Intel announced the Compute Stick at last year’s CES as a full computer in a small package that plugs into an available HDMI port. It seemed to make a good first impression with the form factor although it had some criticisms for performance. At this year’s CES, Intel announced an update to the Compute Stick. It now looks sleeker and makes the latest 6th Gen Intel Core M processors or latest quad-core Intel Atom processors. This improves the processing and graphics performance while giving options for the Core m3 or m5 SKU option with 64GB of storage and 4GB RAM. The Intel Atom Compute Stick has 32GB of storage and 2GB of RAM.
Other improvements to the Compute Stick include better wireless connectivity to WiFi and Bluetooth and an additional USB port. Intel provides the Intel Compute Stick fact sheet (PDF) for more details of the device.
The second generation Intel Compute Stick is slated for release in Q1 2016. The m3 comes with Windows 10 and has an MSRP of $399 while the m5 does not come with an OS and has an MSRP of $499. The Atom variant comes with Windows 10 at an MSRP of $159.
