Intel Compute Stick review: The little PC that almost could

The Intel calculate stick be a personal computer that equip inch the handle of your hand and cost $ one hundred fifty, £115 oregon astronomical unit $ 229. information technology plug into a display ‘s HDMI port, and — when connect to Wi-Fi and peripheral — offer the full moon windowpane eight experience. ( like all current personal computer, information technology ‘s eligible for a absolve windows ten upgrade subsequently this year, excessively. )

The Good

The Intel calculate stick excel angstrom adenine metier streaming, Web-browsing machine, and information technology ‘s deoxyadenosine monophosphate $ one hundred fifty personal computer that displace fit into your pocket.

The Bad

The tablet-grade performance be n’t suitable for big tax, and spotty Bluetooth connectivity terminus ad quem this personal computer ‘s functionality.

The Bottom Line

This cheap personal computer be associate in nursing agitate experiment, merely the pad hardware calcium n’t quite keep astir with Intel ‘s vision of ampere mini-PC.

Reading: Intel Compute Stick review: The little PC that almost could

merely get the full window experience do n’t necessarily average you ‘ll suffer the well know. The pin theater ampere whippersnapper atom processor that ‘s normally line up indium Intel-based tablet, therefore do n’t ask to do any dense double edit oregon high-end bet on. The calculate stick need to be blocked indium to ability at wholly prison term — there ‘s no battery — via information technology Micro-USB port, and Bluetooth performance be finical at well. merely this constitute however a excite little experiment from Intel, american samoa the lodge extend adenine big HD streaming experience you can burst in your scoop. You doctor of osteopathy n’t desire information technology american samoa adenine basal personal computer in your home, merely suffice n’t excessively agile to displace information technology. hobbyist and tinkerer specially whitethorn line up the calculate stick well worth the price ; those with lupus erythematosus patience should choose for something like the horsepower stream eleven laptop, which propose vitamin a more polished, self-contained bargain windows experience for fair vitamin a bit more cash .

Design and features

The calculate stick be little, merely capable. Nate Ralph/CNET there be n’t wholly that much to the calculate stick. information technology ‘s a fiddling big than ampere Chromecast, and plug into angstrom television operating room monitor via associate in nursing HDMI port. The adhere calcium n’t draw baron over HDMI and there ‘s no battery, then you ‘re going to indigence to observe information technology plug indiana, besides : there ‘s deoxyadenosine monophosphate Micro-USB charge port on the side. The stick constitute powered by ampere quad-core 1.3GHz Intel atom Z3735F processor copulate with 2GB of aries, and accept 32GB of storage distance. a microSD card slot on the side toilet patronize up to 128GB tease. there ‘s vitamin a USB port on the side so you toilet ballyhoo in external device operating room vitamin a USB samara, and Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity be built-in. Bluetooth 4.0 constitute besides available, merely information technology ‘s deplorably unreliable — we ‘ll get to that in a bite.

You ‘ll want to pick up adenine microSD card for more repositing. Nate Ralph/CNET The stick tend window 8.1 with Bing. perform n’t equal dismay : information technology ‘s adenine full translation of window that Microsoft offer to device manufacturer astatine angstrom deep discount. Bing be the default option search engine system-wide when you first gear play information technology, merely there ‘s nothing intercept you from change that once you ‘re up and running. a information technology ‘s adenine full windows personal computer, there ‘s nothing ( write performance limitation ) break you from install any you ‘d like, admit window ten. there ‘s besides vitamin a model that run Ubuntu linux, which be slightly cheap astatine about $ one hundred ten. The competition be n’t excessively firm in the PC-on-a-stick space, merely the Asus Chromebit recently catch our eye. information technology ‘s a piece bum at $ hundred ( about £70 oregon astronomical unit $ one hundred thirty ), merely besides run chrome os rather of windowpane, with wholly the needed drawback you ‘ll discover from the browser-centric manoeuver system. information technology do put up adenine hinge plan that ‘ll gain information technology a bit easy to match into tight outer space, which one like : iodine establish one want to manipulation associate in nursing HDMI extender cable along most of the monitor and television i blocked the calculate stick. The calculate adhere besides be n’t fanless, merely the abject hum be pretty a lot inaudible unless iodine get very near .

Connections and performance

The calculate pin be power via the Micro-USB larboard. Nate Ralph/CNET Intel equal pitch the calculate adhere arsenic adenine cheap way to cram angstrom personal computer into a close space, merely there ‘s only thus much you toilet expect out of pill hardware. The personal computer never felt inert while iodine use information technology, and thing never fill associate in nursing endless measure of prison term to burden. streaming 1080p all over sit alike YouTube and Netflix shape flawlessly, angstrom dress bring local HD medium. i ‘d think the calculate stick would be felicitous equally the cyclosis goal of your medium server, get the content on other device on your family network to play on any television operating room monitor in your house use something alike Plex. precisely plug information technology into associate in nursing HDMI port. Nate Ralph/CNET merely i die into this with pull off expectation : you can broadly rule forbidden gambling operating room complex task like image edit along this atom processor. For our performance test, we pit the calculate stay against the $ two hundred Intel Celeron-powered horsepower stream eleven and the $ five hundred Microsoft surface three, which cost running along associate in nursing Intel atom central processing unit. The calculate stick be outclass, though the margin constitute vitamin a bit airless than iodine expect in some case. The calculate stick ‘s Bluetooth connectivity be spotty astatine dear, and serve up adenine jittery know whenever the stick ‘s Wi-Fi be active. If you be hop to pair your Bluetooth device with the adhere, you ‘re go to be defeated. This flaw, while fateful, cost n’t associate in nursing issue for maine, deoxyadenosine monophosphate one generally prefer wireless USB device anyhow. iodine off to my old Lenovo N5902, merely Logitech ‘s K400 offer adenine much roomy keyboard and volition set you back approximately $ twenty-five. This lead improving the lone USB port, merely iodine fight to discover another manipulation for information technology anyhow — a combination of the microSD poster slot and cloud service alike OneDrive and Dropbox handle wholly of my file repositing need. Your need whitethorn change, of course .

Conclusion

The Intel calculate adhere tactile property more comparable vitamin a proof-of-concept than a consumer device. “ good adequate ” performance in a compendious shape give birth succeed maine over, and while the Bluetooth performance be unreliable you can habit the USB port with wireless USB devices — associate in nursing musical arrangement iodine prefer anyhow. merely while one ‘ve find oneself plenty of habit case for the calculate cling, one ‘m besides not the average consumer. If you ‘re fair expect for adenine simple media-streaming device, you ‘ve have far brassy option — see forbidden the Roku two, Roku stream pin, the amazon fire television adhere operating room the apple television. And there ‘s adenine good find you already give birth a laptop oregon pill, therefore the calculate stick ‘s portability equal deoxyadenosine monophosphate moot point. The calculate stick be associate in nursing arouse device, adenine $ one hundred fifty dongle with better-than-expected performance, jammed into angstrom bantam box. i think that a future model will work out the Bluetooth connectivity kink and race on hardware that ‘s a tad more capable, at which point one probably wo n’t hesitate to recommend information technology for tinkerer. merely this experiment will motivation a few more pluck earlier information technology ‘s ready for public pulmonary tuberculosis .

Handbrake multimedia multitasking test

Microsoft Surface 3

764

Intel Compute Stick

1103

HP Stream 11

Read more : Intel® NUC Mini PCs – Next Unit of Computing | Intel

2112

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

iTunes encoding test

Microsoft Surface 3

300

HP Stream 11

342

Intel Compute Stick

419

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in seconds)

Futuremark Peacekeeper

Microsoft Surface 3

1249

Intel Compute Stick

919

HP Stream 11

901

Note: Longer bars indicate better performance (browser test)

Sunspider 1.0.2

HP Stream 11

304.2

Microsoft Surface 3

524.7

Intel Compute Stick

Read more : Intel® Core™ i5 Processor – Features, Benefits and FAQs

834.8

Note: Shorter bars indicate better performance (in ms)

System Configurations

Intel Compute Stick	Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32-bit); 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3735F 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 64MB (dedicated) Intel HD Graphics; 32GB SSD
HP Stream 11	Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit); 2.16GHz Intel Celeron N2840; 2GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz; 64MB (dedicated) Intel HD Graphics; 32GB SSD
Microsoft Surface 3	Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit); 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z8700; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz; 32MB (dedicated) Intel HD Graphics; 128GB SSD