This article is more than 1 year old

Intel shows Google how to stick it real good

Chipzilla sticks it to Chromebit with Atom-powered Compute Stick

Intel has loosed its Chromebit-killer, the Compute Stick, on the market with pre-orders open at NewEgg, Amazon and other outlets.

It's more expensive than the expected sub-$US100 price tag on Chromebit: a Linux Compute Stick is available at Newegg for $US109.99 and a Windows 8.1 version is $US149.99.

Google seems to have done a little more work on physical design, with a swivel-head on Chromebit for convenience (and for that matter, product longevity, since something laying more closely to the screen it's attached to is less likely to get broken off by accident).

Both outfits pitch the sticks as either adding smarts to TVs, or turning any HDMI screen into a computer (admittedly of limited grunt – the Compute Stick runs at a hardly-screaming 1.33 GHz), but Intel also sees its product as handy in industrial environments.

Here's how the competing devices stack up.

Processor RAM SSD WiFi Bluetooth USB
Chromebit Rockchip RK3288
with Mali 760 graphics
2 GB 16 GB 802.11ac 4.0 2.0
Compute Stick Intel Atom 2 GB EMMC
max 64 GB
802.11 b 4.0 2.0

In one direction, Chromebit wins on WiFi, with 802.11 ac against Compute Stick's measly 802.11 b/g/n, while Intel has double the memory of Google's offering.

Australian retailers – such as Vtech in WA – describe the Linux stick as carrying Ubuntu 14.04, and are taking pre-orders at for around $AU150 (Linux) or $AU222 for the Windows version.

Those prices are moot because to do anything useful with the Stick you need an HDMI monitor, USB hub, keyboard and mouse. Which will bump up the price to about the level of a bottom-end laptop and leave you with a tidier desk but a smaller screen. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like