Introduction and design
Intel's Compute Stick will certainly go down in history as the first complete personal computer that the Santa Clara company, better known for manufacturing processors, has shipped to end users.
The firm has been dabbling with barebones kits and DIY products (like its NUCs) for ages, but this is the first time I can remember it shipping something that can be used out of the box (without having to add an OS, memory and storage). It will, as many other experts have commented, send waves across the entire technology industry.
Intel is not the first big name in tech to come up with such a device. Dell's Wyse Cloud Connect used an ARM processor and Android instead of an Intel one and Windows (the Compute Stick is also available with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, as well). Over the last 24 months, we've seen a flurry of these HDMI-connected Android/ARM-based dongles grow in popularity in South East Asia with prices plummeting to about £20 (around $32, AU$40).
For that price, you get a tiny device barely bigger than a pack of chewing gum, with hardware equivalent to the first generation Google Nexus 7, minus the battery, screen and the camera.
Unlike Google's Chromecast, these devices are actual computers, not just extensions of your tablet or smartphone. It is these Android-based dongles that Intel is targeting and the Compute Stick might provide its closest partners with the blueprint to start from.
However, the Compute Stick is anything but cheap, and as such, doesn't aim to be a mass seller. UK retailer Dabs sells the one with Windows preloaded for £130 and the suggested retail price in the US is $150. A deliberate strategy to foster a nascent Intel-based dongle portfolio? Possibly.
Design and specifications
Note that the product which was sent to us is a pre-production engineering sample. This means that the final iteration might differ slightly from the one we're reviewing today.
This is a computer that's supposed to be hidden away all the time. With that in mind, don't expect it to win any beauty competitions – Intel designed it to be functional. The device's dimensions – 103 x 37 x 12mm – are such that it can be slipped easily into a jeans pocket. There are also plenty of air vents in the front of the device (which sports a massive 'Intel Inside' logo) and on the side. That's because the processor inside the Compute Stick warms up quite a bit; a fan has also been added to dissipate the heat more effectively.
There's a power button, a micro-USB slot (for power), a full-size USB 2.0 port, a status light, a microSD card slot and a full-size HDMI port. The size of the device could be an issue as users risk running into trouble if the ports on their monitor are located right next to each other and are already occupied – that explains Intel's decision to throw in an HDMI extender cable.
The rest of the specification sheet includes an Atom Z3735F processor, one that is usually found in countless Windows tablets around the world. It's a quad-core Bay Trail model that runs at 1.33GHz, peaking at 1.83GHz, plus on the same die, there's an Intel HD Graphics subsystem running at 311MHz.
There's also 2GB of DDR3L 1333MHz memory, 32GB of flash memory from Samsung (about 23GB of which is free), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Windows 8.1 with Bing (32-bit), which can be upgraded for free to Windows 10 when it's launched later this year. Note that the cheaper Ubuntu model has only 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard storage.
Also in the package are a 10W adapter (the same as most tablets), a USB Type A to micro-USB cable and an assortment of detachable power plugs. Interestingly, you can access the device's BIOS by pressing the appropriate keyboard key – hidden in the menu is the ability to toggle the performance between low-power, balanced and performance, which raises the baseline processor speed and, well, the general performance level.
Performance
Intel cited home entertainment, PC-like embedded, productivity and thin client as the four main usage models for this device. Futuremark's PCMark 8 and 3DMark 2013 proved that the Compute Stick is only adequate for very light usage scenarios as the device struggled during benchmark tests.
It failed to run some tests (Fire Strike and PCMark 8 Creative) and the rest of the results only served to reinforce my belief that the Compute Stick is not capable of doing any sort of heavy lifting in terms of resources.
The benchmark results were as follows:
- 3DMark 2013 Cloud Gate: 1154
- 3DMark 2013 Ice Storm: 12450
- PCMark 8 Home: 1082
- PCMark 8 Work: 1436
To put this in perspective, it performed slightly worse than the Intel NUC we reviewed last year.
Verdict
The Compute Stick is an important step for Intel, more in terms of the symbolism rather than the actual technology. This is, after all, tech that we've seen elsewhere and it has just been repackaged in a different form factor. For the first time ever, Intel could end up competing in the consumer market with its very own customers.
We liked
I applaud Intel's decision to launch what is a bold product. It is yet another avenue for its Atom range and although the company is nearly two years late compared to the ARMDroid players, better late than never. As an enthusiast, I like the ability to tinker with the BIOS, something that fewer Windows-based devices allow these days. It is also one of the smallest x86 computers around, and with a couple of accessories (see below) it can become a near autonomous, on-the-go, fully-fledged office.
We disliked
The dongle form factor was always going to be a compromise. The HDMI port is a fragile one and to get anything to dangle from it is asking for trouble. This is especially true if the HDMI ports on the client display do not face the floor.
There's also the issue of powering the device – current HDMI technology cannot power devices yet which means that you need to secure an additional power socket to provide juice to the Compute Stick.
That brings in a fair amount of issues especially when used in a commercial environment as suggested by Intel. I don't understand why Intel went for an active cooling system when almost all solutions based on the Z3735F on the market run passively. Adding a fan increases noise, uses power and adds another point of failure (they gather dust).
I am also puzzled by the fairly narrow operating temperature (from freezing point to 35 degrees Celsius). That is going to be reached rapidly if the device is tucked behind a plasma display, in a window, on a hot sunny day. What happens beyond 35 degrees? Will the fan go into overdrive? Will the CPU throttling kick in?
And there's the issue of the price, too. You can get the Linx 7 from Amazon for as little as £65, half the price of the Compute Stick (a version with 2GB of RAM costs only $100 in the US). You get a much more versatile solution (cameras, battery etc) plus a one-year subscription to Office 365 included.
True, it is bigger and has only 1GB of RAM, but this shows how intense competition is out there. If size is not an issue, then for a bit extra – £30 – you can get the Lenovo Thinkstation E50, which is a small but fully-fledged computer with nearly three times the performance of the Compute Stick.
Final verdict
The bulk of my criticisms are aimed at the form factor and not the hardware. Intel has been very clear as to what to expect from this mature, tried-and-trusted hardware combination. Windows 8.1 performs decently on this Bay Trail-based solution and Windows 10 on Cherry Trail is likely to improve things even more.
But unless the company plans for something else, I can't see Intel succeed with this form factor. This actually has nothing to do with Intel and it's more about how Microsoft sells Windows 8.1 at the moment – because vendors can get the OS for free by bundling a display with their PC.
That's why we're seeing products like the Pipo X8 which is essentially a tablet without a camera or battery, but which retails for less than a similar screen-less computer. For most people, the additional display, a year's worth of Office 365 Personal and a few other goodies (like more ports) will prove to be alluring enough.
For those use cases that require a small footprint, maybe Intel should consider designing a PC that integrates with an HDMI cable and is powered via the monitor's own socket. Or they could come up with a solution similar to Marvell's Sheevaplug with a long HDMI cable, maybe one that could include Powerline technology.
At the end of the day, the Compute Stick is very much a first-generation product that sits between two markets, consumer and business. It is going to face some serious competition in the former, while the latter may well sneer at the device because of its intrinsic lack of ruggedness.
Bring in Cherry Trail, change the design and cut down the price and Intel might have a fighting chance in an already crowded market. Hopefully, the Compute Stick will prove to be a catalyst for the x86 ecosystem, one that will force it to innovate or face obsolescence in the hands of its creator.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1EwY8Uu
No comments:
Post a Comment