Intel releases HDMI stick that runs Windows 8.1 ($149)

You guys wanting to Transformer this thing up with USB Ethernet and HUBs would be better served with HP's Stream Mini PC. $30 more and it has Ethernet, 4(?) USB 3.0 ports, and is likely to be faster overall.

8MQs2ce.jpg


$180
 
I've seen this sort of thing enough times to know it's DOA. Windows is not anywhere near optimized for televisions. The fact that people want LAN in a stick is just baffling.
 
Reallink said:
You guys wanting to Transformer this thing up with USB Ethernet and HUBs would be better served with HP's Stream Mini PC. $30 more and it has Ethernet, 4(?) USB 3.0 ports, and is likely to be faster overall.
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Wow, that's pretty neat, you also get 200gb of Onedrive for 2 years, $25 to spend on the windows store and a keyboard and mouse - that easily makes up for the extra $30.
 
I think I'm still more excited for the recently announced HP Stream desktops, but this is a great move. Everything I would want to do with a mini Android device is easier with Windows.

The two front panel USB slots on the HP make it my ultimate emulator device. Very pretty too.
 
Somnid said:
I've seen this sort of thing enough times to know it's DOA. Windows is not anywhere near optimized for televisions. The fact that people want LAN in a stick is just baffling.
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That is why you install Kodi/XBMC. XBMC looks fantastic on a TV.
Had zero issue with my HTPC.
 
Reallink said:
You guys wanting to Transformer this thing up with USB Ethernet and HUBs would be better served with HP's Stream Mini PC. $30 more and it has Ethernet, 4(?) USB 3.0 ports, and is likely to be faster overall.

8MQs2ce.jpg


$180
Click to expand...

Considering the build quality of the HP laptop I just opened up today I'll be staying the hell away from anything with HP on it unfortunately. Neat looking bit of kit too if not quite as practical, but I have serious concerns about HP's build quality now.
 
UpDownLeftRight said:
Considering the build quality of the HP laptop I just opened up today I'll be staying the hell away from anything with HP on it unfortunately. Neat looking bit of kit too if not quite as practical, but I have serious concerns about HP's build quality now.
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Just checked out on amazon Asus already has a mini desktop at $230 with KB/M thrown in for $230. Also has a 500 GB HDD....would be interesting to see benchmarks once everything hits
 
mrklaw said:
It's just bay trail, so why wouldn't you get a tablet with HDMI out for less? If you wanted you could Velcro it to the back of your TV and use it like a HDMI stick, but with the benefit of also having a battery and screen for portable use

Also seems quite chunky to be sticking out for a HDMI socket. Should have a right angled HDMI plug so it can sit flush with a TV
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it would sit flush on the easily accessed side HDMI spot many TVs have
 
No wifi ac but has bluetooth. HDMI 1.4a. I will wait for second gen, seemingly even Core-M version might be coming from some reports.
 
Orayn said:
This has more RAM than most of the $100 tablets and there might be less core parking/CPU governor stuff to deal with due to the lack of battery.
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Asus Vivotab 8 is around the same price and has 2GB of RAM and a screen. Doesn't mean it's a better solution, of course; it's just that the pricing is a bit weird considering that, as you say, there's no battery - and no screen, etc etc
 
pswii60 said:
Chromebox is already the perfect XBMC box, but this could give it a run for its money for sure.
Click to expand...

I picked up a chromebox for the kids and wife, half expecting them to hate it so I could turn into a XBMC box...unfortunately the thing kicks ass and they all love it lol

Was going to pick up a second for this purpose, but I think I will wait to see how this pans out, looks very promising
 
This is the perfect solution for codec and lack of app problems that plague Smart TVs, Chromecast and Apple TV. Just run your exact codec packs and programs as you would on Windows, exactly the kind of device I was dreaming of.

mrklaw said:
Grab a linx 7" from ebay for £60 - brain_stew pointed it out to me last week. same processor, full windows 8.1. You could attach it to a DS4 with a nyko clip and use it for emulators or steam home streaming - or hook it up to your TV.
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That sounds pretty good too. Just run VNC and control from mobile or laptop.

Although I feel somewhat dumb since I literally just got a Chromecast. Ahh well it was only £23 and it'll still be useful for streaming from my phone.
 
Tv manufacturers have been so bad at making "smart" TVs that they basically created a market for these dongles/sticks.

I have a chromecast already and with it finally the living room seemed less obsolete .... The only function usable of my smart tv was Skype.
 
What has happened in the last year that allows us to have 'real Windows' suddenly in Android priced snd sized devices? It seems there is every day an article about a $99 Windows tablet, $199 Windows mini pc or now, a Windows HDMI stick.

I mean, we are talking about the operating system that required a 'RT' botching just to run on a thin tablet just a year or two ago.

EDIT - also, how the hell is Mac Mini still so massive physically?
 
Nzyme32 said:
Seems ideal for streaming games from emulators or even maybe Steam
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All I needed to know. I want to see the input lag performance of this on Steam/other titles. This would be a game changer for "Chromestick"/etc. sort of USB/HDMI sticks.
 
MesserWolf said:
Tv manufacturers have been so bad at making "smart" TVs that they basically created a market for these dongles/sticks.

I have a chromecast already and with it finally the living room seemed less obsolete .... The only function usable of my smart tv was Skype.
Click to expand...
Fucking Smart TVs are disgusting. They boot slow (no channel/AV changing right away). The one redeemable feature is the ability to right click videos on your laptop and throw them to the TV. Everything else is a fucking disaster. Just team up with Google or Windows and be done with it.

Ever since my first exposure to a Smart TV device (PS3 being my first example) I've thought "Why fuck around with all this compatibility shit when you could just run Windows and have everything work". Then Dumb Smartish TVs happened (USB media playback but no internet) and the problem persisted, then Apple TV and Smart TVs happened and the problem persisted.

Hooking up my laptop was somewhat of a solution but always a hassle plus I ofyen like to browse on my laptop while I watch stuff.

The less said about the PS4 the better.

Then I got my own Smart TV which somehow had a shitter UI than the downstairs TV. Miracast from my Z3 to TV is an abomination.

Then I recently got a Chromecast thinking that was the be all and end all, but even that has fucking codec limitations (I thought Android was all about fucking freedom?). Admittedly the Chromecast has been the best example so far (casting flash video is amazing, tried it for the first time today and it was surprisingly smooth).

But after all that noise, all I needed was a Windows tablet or stick hooked up to my TV. No fucking about, everything I can do on my laptop media-wise, every program etc. can run perfectly. I honestly should have looked into it before, I didn't know such an affordable Windows tablet like the Linx existed.

And then this would be the end. The ultimate Smart TV solution. No more fuckeries.
 
Chittagong said:
What has happened in the last year that allows us to have 'real Windows' suddenly in Android priced snd sized devices? It seems there is every day an article about a $99 Windows tablet, $199 Windows mini pc or now, a Windows HDMI stick.

I mean, we are talking about the operating system that required a 'RT' botching just to run on a thin tablet just a year or two ago.

EDIT - also, how the hell is Mac Mini still so massive physically?
Click to expand...

Intel has been putting lots of work into slimming x86. Microsoft lowered the resource requirements on Windows 8 down quite a bit and then threw away all licensing fees for the cheap devices when they realized Android and Chromebooks were killing them.
 
Chittagong said:
What has happened in the last year that allows us to have 'real Windows' suddenly in Android priced snd sized devices? It seems there is every day an article about a $99 Windows tablet, $199 Windows mini pc or now, a Windows HDMI stick.

I mean, we are talking about the operating system that required a 'RT' botching just to run on a thin tablet just a year or two ago.

EDIT - also, how the hell is Mac Mini still so massive physically?
Click to expand...
intel had to focus their efforts into making their cpus more energy efficient to compete with arm, mostly due to apple. they've been threatening to drop intel's cpus to use their own. though this didn't start one year ago
 
I have a smart TV and its so slow I went out and bought a firetv stick. The newer TVs are getting faster though, the 2014 Samsung flagship TV I would say is almost as fast as the firetv.
 
This key can do so many things, and they'll even get better in the future.
AU7Amsc.gif


For me, this is a Steam in-home streaming, low end indie/Steam game, XBMC, super duper media player/emulation super machine.......IN MY POCKET! And that's just for entertainment uses. The potential for this is nearly infinite.
 
bomblord1 said:
Micro USB.
Click to expand...

I remember my first desktop PC that had USB ports on it. Seemed so new at the time. Now we have PC's that are powered by the USB, and one that's like 3/4 the size. Just crazy. These sort of things are the future of standard household computers.
 
I have questions about this and the likes of this. this compute stick is not like those other mini PCs on a stick like those android media sticks thats like an android tablet? But more like a full blow desk top? I'm interested in this device not necessarily for gaming but because of how cheap it is.
 
plank said:
I have questions about this and the likes of this. this compute stick is not like those other mini PCs on a stick like those android media sticks thats like an android tablet? But more like a full blow desk top? I'm interested in this device not necessarily for gaming but because of how cheap it is.
Click to expand...

It's full windows 8.1 device you can connect a keyboard/mouse via bluetooth or USB. It's a stick just like the android sticks that plugs into the back of your TV but is running an intel atom 3735Z which is a quad core X86 processor that's fairly fast. Benchmarks of it in other devices show it capable of playing crysis on low and it's way more than capable of doing basic productivity tasks like office/word and even can do some light photoshop editing.
 
bomblord1 said:
It's full windows 8.1 device you can connect a keyboard/mouse via bluetooth or USB. It's a stick just like the android sticks that plugs into the back of your PC but is running an intel atom 3735Z which is a quad core X86 processor that's fairly fast. Benchmarks of it in other devices show it capable of playing crysis on low and it's way more than capable of doing basic productivity tasks like office/word and even can do some light photoshop editing.
Click to expand...


Good that's all I needed to know. Will do more research and keep and eye out for this later on in the year, but thanks for info.
 
Do want. Use a dell venue 8 pro tablet(atom baytrail) as my portable and video wise its handled everything ive thrown at it including h.264 10bit(something even high end android tablets tend to chug on). If this thing ends up running cherrytrail it'll be even better. Toss kodi/xbmc and some emus and my wii pro controler pc dongle and ill be in emu heaven.
 
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