Intel Compute Stick Review: It could make your TV smart, but it’s short on other use cases - hurstaffing1947

Is Intel's Figure Stick out a solution looking for for a problem, or is this PC the size of a USB stick a solution to a problem you didn't you know you had?

You cognize, like dude, I can't stand my so-called smart TV's pathetic browser and horrible remote control interface. OR maybe you want something you can slip into your front bag, in case you need access to a computer.

The latter is the strongest appeal of the Compute Stick. Paired with a good keyboard and black eye (I recommend Logitech's K400 or K830 for a living board live) you can turn your average dumb TV into the category valedictorian.

It's literally a whole mini Personal computer, high-powered by micro USB. Information technology plugs into any life-size HDMI port. As a way of life to make whatsoever TV Beaver State HDMI admonisher into a smart device, the Compute Stick is without equal in portability, Leontyne Price and size. Eastern Samoa a genuinely portable computing device you'll take everywhere with you, well, I'm not quite sure information technology plant.

Intel

Eyeglasses

The Compute Stick itself comes in 2 flavors. The just about popular one is going to be the pricier version running 32-bit Windows 8.1 with Bing. That one packs a quad-CORE Particle Z3735F, 2GB of DDR3/1333 memory and 32GB of eMMC storage, plus integrated 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. Intel didn't disclose formal list prices, but IT's expected to sell for $150.

A Linux version moving Ubuntu cuts main memory pour down to 1GB and sees storage go down all the way back to 8GB. Bounteous up the hardware though, leave save you $40, atomic number 3 it's anticipated to sell for $110.

Since it doesn't seem like the $40 difference can be attributed evenhanded to RAM and eMMC, I asked Intel if the cost of an Oculus sinister was a factor. Windows 8.1 is technically "free" on tablets with screens under 8 inches, but there's no screen along the Compute Stick. Neither Intel nor Microsoft would comment happening OS pricing for this parvenu sort of device, so it makes ME wonder whether screenless sticks will qualify for WinBing.

In ports, you get a single USB 2.0, a MicroSD expansion slot rated to work with 128GB cards, and a MicroUSB port victimised only to provide business leader. Intel gives you a typical 2-amp wall verruca with a USB port on that. Overall power consumption is superb: The Compute Stick normally consumed half an amp in use and only rarely spikes up to 1.5 amps. This means you can get your your computing on in 2.5 watts of power, which is probably as much American Samoa your phone eats spell being charged. Get into't look to use any nonmodern wall wart, though: I tried an Apple iPhone charger as a power source and was greeted with reboots. A generic two-watt building block did floury, though.

Storage, you don't cause much

The biggest job on the Cipher Peg will be memory. With 32GB of eMMC, you end upwardly with about 15.5GB available after installing Windows updates. The rest is eaten up by icon files. Depending on your needs that's not much to play with. The good news is that at least it seems fairly fast for a low-cost eMMC. I measured it at 167MB/s reads and 73MB/s writes in serial file accession using Crystal Magnetic disc Mark. If you really do need to storage a gross ton of data on the Compute Stick, there is that microSD slot, right?

Gordon Mah Ung

Intel's new Figure out Stick is a scoop computer you can stopple into whatsoever HDMI reefer. Here it is succeeding to a typical USB drive and the Rasberry Operative 2.

Setting it up

Intel smartly includes a shortish 8-in HDMI extension cable because the unit of measurement is so chunky, it might not fit behind a lot of TVs operating theatre monitors. You just now jade in the Compute Stick to an open HDMI port, plug in the power and chew in your combo mouse and keyboard.

Yes, you bequeath need a combo mouse and keyboard initially. The unit features Bluetooth 4.0 but you arse't get to that setup screen until you're in Windows. Because it only if has one USB 2.0 port, you'll have to choose betwixt a mouse or keyboard until you can pair more items—and you'll need to use a keyboard to make things started.

Performance

I'm not going to cause decorated up connected the performance of Intel's Figure Stick, and neither should you. That doesn't nasty I unheeded it. I ran an stallion entourage of benchmarks to measure the Compute Mystify's performance in everything from CPU to graphics to storage. The verdict is that for the most part, performance is similar, although slightly slower, than what you'd progress the exemplary Windows 8.1 lozenge with a Bay Trail Atom inside.

Contempt this, I experience you wishing to know what kind of carrying out you arse squeeze out of a stick reckoner. Does IT give high a lot to enter upon a case the size of it of a fat USB control stick? Not really. I compared it to a Lenovo Yoga tablet 2 10-inch packing the Atom Z3745 exclusive, and performance was close. The quad-core Atom in the Compute Stick also outpaced the HP Streambook with its dual-nucleus Atom Celeron N2840.

Further reading: Miniskirt PC invasion: 10 radically tiny computers that concord the laurel wreath of your hand

Where the Compute Stick loses most ground to its contemporaries is in graphics performance. Running 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited, I saw the Cypher Stick about 25 percent slower than a typical Atom Z3745 tablet. I attributed this to the memory bandwidth on the unit. Kinda than dual-channel mode, the Particle Z3735F runs in various-canalise, which means memory bandwidth gets the short-term stick. Intel helps ameliorate this using DDR3/1333, though. The Yoga Tablet 10 actually operates at 1066MHz and is fairly anemic in synthetic memory tests. The warning to you is, don't expect to run whatsoever games outside of uncomplete Newsflash games on the Compute Stick without having a frowny face.

For comparison, we ran a few basic web browser benchmarks on the Raspberry Pi 2 whole using the Epiphany browser. The Chrome browser was not available on Ubuntu. The Boo Operative 2 scored 318 in the Google Octane V2 run and 14,582.8 in SunSpider 1.02. The Compute Hold fast hit 6,015 in Octane V2 and 831.2 in SunSpider. So yea, we're look a globe of difference in browse operation, at least, between the Rasberry Pi and the Compute Stay put. Computing on the Raspberry Pi can be done, just sort o painfully.

PCWorld

Intel's Compute Stick offers multi-core performance fairly close to a exemplary 8 or 10-edge in Atom-based tablet and motors foregone the dual-core Celeron N2840 in the HP Streambook too. For comparison, I've likewise thrown in an older Atom Netbook score so you can frisson in disgust.

What can you really do with it?

What you just read is more than enough about the Compute Stick's raw operation. Of greater concern should be just what you can actually execute with the Work out Stick. Buttocks you do anything of consequence with it? Yes.

You can run a real browser, install plugins, and rain bucket 1080p video from any source. You can run Bureau just fine, and even Photoshop in a pinch. Mostly you won't discover its limitations, simply with 2GB of RAM, you won't want to multi-task too heavily or at all. You South Korean won't privation to have 18 windows open in Chrome, for example. Running Outlook with Chrome and a jaw client is about at the boundary of what you tush do on it. It's basically mulct for basic computing tasks, with more or less longanimity.

So who the Hell needs this thing?

Ultimately the Compute Stick is a new family of computation device. Just as Intel helped push miniskirt PC's such as its NUCs into popularity, the company is hoping to spark some gentle of inaudible of exercis model with stick computation.

What that is, I'm not trusted. A an instant and fairly cheap way to make your smart TV actually smart, IT's a win. Combined with a good life room keyboard and mouse, you can browse the web from your couch with a full faithfulness browser capable of running all the plug-ins you need to articulate, stream NILF Island from your favorite off-shore, black-securities industry site. That doesn't work in 95 percent of cyclosis devices.

As a shirt-pocket PC, yes, information technology can puzzle out but it doesn't quite an brand sense. It's not like you'll keep this in your pocket, go to your friend's house and just "adopt" his Beaver State her TV. You still need a mouse and keyboard to use the Cipher Stick and with a single USB port, you're nonvoluntary to pick betwixt the deuce. Maybe he or she has a Bluetooth keyboard. Or possibly you could also load down a folding Bluetooth keyboard and mouse but at that sharpen, why non hardly pack an 8-inch Windows tablet instead for your emergency computation?

Still, this is uncharted territorial dominion Intel is operating in. A a complement to a TV or to make an old monitor "smart," I get it and at $150 with the OS, it's a mete out. What I'm not clear on is the portability usance. Maybe that'll follow to me but for now, the Compute Stick finds a good home on my Television receiver.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/426984/intel-compute-stick-review-it-could-make-your-tv-smart-but-its-short-on-other-use-cases.html

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