Computer on a stick…the future?

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With desktops and laptops sales dying off and manufacturers scaling down to extinction I wonder if Intel’s computer on a stick is going to be a winner in the wacky ‘let’s do everything on a tablet or smartphone’ universe in which I find myself imprisoned?

https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

Just plug into a smart TV and these old eyes can still see the freaking font! Of course, a keyboard would be nice….
43140-scotty_star_trek_iv_hello_computer_talking_mouse_animated_if_siri

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You can also plug it into an HDMI monitor.

You can use your wireless keyboard and mouse.

Or you can use your smartphone as your keyboard.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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….You can use your wireless keyboard and mouse.

If one is available on the TV or monitor plugged into. Could mount a trend.

Or you can use your smartphone as your keyboard.

yay?

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I purchased the Intel Compute Stick with Windows 10 Home edition the other day. I’m delighted with it. I’m using it for streaming internet videos to my 79″ TV screen. Works a charm.

When I bought it, it needed to do heaps of Windows 10 updates. One of them wouldn’t take, as it needed an extra 14 GB or so above the built-in disc storage (the device only comes with 32 GB just under half of that gobbled up by the OS). So I added a 64 GB MicroSD card and tried again and this time the windows updates completed okay (took hours). Probably a 32 GB memory card would’ve done the trick, but I only had 64. It can take up to 128 GB. After that I did a system disk cleanup to remove the “old” windows files (a very long wait again) and got much of the disc space back on C:

I configured the OS to automatically save files and apps to the SD card D: instead of C:. I also created a separate normal user account to run my netflix in.

My hardware setup:
Intel Compute Stick with 2 GB memory and 32 GB on board (I assume SSD) drive.
I added a 64 GB MicroSD card.
The device has bluetooth capability, Wifi (single frequency) and a single USB2 port and single HDMI port.
The USB port can power a 4-way USB hub, but no bigger. The specs say if you want a bigger hub (say 8-way) it needs to be self-powered, not bus powered).
The 2 A power adapter that came with it has a micro-USB connection.

I tried it with a wireless keyboard/mouse via the USB port and internet via the wifi. Works fine
Tried it with a 3-port USB hub that also has a LAN port built in. Works fine with my wired LAN and the keyboard.

I found a BIOS update on Intel’s support site that has Bluetooth keyboard support for the BIOS system, so I copied that to a USB stick and ran it from the unpowered USB hub on the Compute stick. New bios installed fine.
Tested bluetooth keyboard under the new BIOS and it works fine for me, but it’s still experimental.

What am I using it for? For now I’m just using it to stream HD Netflix over WiFi to my very large TV via the HDMI port. I’m using the Windows 10 netflix app. I get very little to no noticeable jitter or pauses when watching movies this way. I’m very impressed. Means I don’t have to sacrifice my laptop to the purpose. I’m using an integrated wireless keyboard with trackpad combo and it works fine as a TV remote.

The device supports an Intel remote keyboard via an android or Apple mobile phone or tablet app, and I tested that via an android tablet and it works okay, but I can’t comprehend why they don’t also have an app for Windows Phone (which is my preference).

All in all a fun device and has its uses for me. By the way, my VPN works too.

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Thank you for posting this very useful information.

The device has…a single USB2 port and single HDMI port.
The USB port can power a 4-way USB hub, but no bigger. The specs say if you want a bigger hub (say 8-way) it needs to be self-powered, not bus powered).
The 2 A power adapter that came with it has a micro-USB connection.

In my opinion, it’s always a better idea to have a self-powered USB hub. I have sometimes found reliability issues with USB hubs when their only power source is the original USB port.

With a big self-powered USB hub, you could plug everything you need into this device — external USB hard drive, keyboard, mouse, USB audio, flash drive, etc. etc. In fact, you could easily take it from place to place, plugging it in at each location. All you would need at each location would be the peripherals.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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