HDMI Stick that runs full Windows!

[JimmyU]

Just saw this on Gizmodo. Might be useful in a teeny tiny bartop. Not a ton of power, but more power than a Raspberry Pi. It's only $150.

[nitrogen_widget]

Gotta say, as cool as it is windows 8.1 is not a selling point for most people I know.

Luckily a Linux vérsion is coming at the end of the quarter for $90!

[pbj]

What a fantastic, modern age we live in.

[Generic Eric]

The future is going to be great.  I would like it to have more RAM though.

[nitrogen_widget]

The future is going to be great.  I would like it to have more RAM though.

You got 32gb of ssd for a scratch drive. Haha.

[keilmillerjr]

Gotta say, as cool as it is windows 8.1 is not a selling point for most people I know.

Luckily a Linux vérsion is coming at the end of the quarter for $90!

In my virtual testing on my iMac i5 of windows xp +, Windows 8 was the fastest booting. I'm not a fan of windows, but it I was impressed. You don't have to use the new tile based gui. Everyone has their panties in a bunch over an optional feature. You don't hear people refraining from using mac os 10.8 lion because the optional use of launchpad is gay.

[jeremymtc]

Pretty cool. Only downside that I can think of is that MCE is a paid addon for Win 8.1, so there's going to be some additional cost there if used for htpc with media center. Still heckuva lot cheaper than building a dedicated PC.

[elvis]

Looking forward to the Linux version. I have zero interest in anything that runs windows any more.

[nitrogen_widget]

Looking forward to the Linux version. I have zero interest in anything that runs windows any more.

Especially on something with 2gb of ram.

[nitrogen_widget]

Gotta say, as cool as it is windows 8.1 is not a selling point for most people I know.

Luckily a Linux vérsion is coming at the end of the quarter for $90!

In my virtual testing on my iMac i5 of windows xp +, Windows 8 was the fastest booting. I'm not a fan of windows, but it I was impressed. You don't have to use the new tile based gui. Everyone has their panties in a bunch over an optional feature. You don't hear people refraining from using mac os 10.8 lion because the optional use of launchpad is gay.

I work in IT.
I have people asking me ALL the time how they can get rid of windows 8 and put windows 7 on their new OEM computer.
they just don't like it.
Not terribly scientific but if the majority of people you know who buy new pc's want it off....

And, I hear people refraining from using macs because they run on the same hardware as the PC sitting on the shelf next to them but cost twice as much.

[Fursphere]

OSX dumbs things down so much its hard for me to use.  (I've been using Windows since 3.0)  To each their own I guess.   

I also work in IT - and I hear a lot of the same things - "I hate Windows 8 / 8.1 - give me Windows 7" (which is funny, because these were the exact same people saying that with the transition from XP to 7...  I want XP back!  lol)

Anyway, once I show them that the desktop is still there, most of them go "oh wow, this is just like 7!"   Media hype (good or bad) > hands on experience.

People  don't like to learn something new.  Not much you can do about that.

[Louis Tully]

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[RandyT]

Looks neat, but I envision an "octopus" of cables hanging off the thing, (hard drive docks, power supplies, USB hub, etc...) that kind of negates the tiny footprint.

Scatter the pieces all over, or put all the pieces in a bigger box.  If you want full PC functionality, it's a "pick your poison" scenario.

This has a few very good applications (E.g. information terminals, annoying advertisements at POS, etc.) but I'm not sure it's a big step forward for those who expect to replace the box on the desk.

[Louis Tully]

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[JDFan]

Looks neat, but I envision an "octopus" of cables hanging off the thing, (hard drive docks, power supplies, USB hub, etc...) that kind of negates the tiny footprint.

Scatter the pieces all over, or put all the pieces in a bigger box.  If you want full PC functionality, it's a "pick your poison" scenario.

This has a few very good applications (E.g. information terminals, annoying advertisements at POS, etc.) but I'm not sure it's a big step forward for those who expect to replace the box on the desk.

Problem I've seen with most of these type devices is the graphics chips they use just are not yet designed for heavier workloads required on 1080P devices due to the lack of Power (figure most of the chips so far are focused more on power saving than graphics horsepower to be able to use the HDMI or USB connections to supply power to the stick and these connectors were just not designed to supply power to a higher end GPU device)  which kind of defeats plugging them into an HDMI connector - They are getting closer but just not quite there yet. As you say there are specific tasks that they will fill well but it's still going to take some time for widespread application to be viable.

[jaharr01]

I ran a PI with XBMC on my 60"TV. It worked pretty well. Would play 1080 no problem. The only thing was it was a little laggy in the menu.

[elvis]

OSX dumbs things down so much its hard for me to use.  (I've been using Windows since 3.0)  To each their own I guess.

OSX is UNIX (BSD specifically) with a pretty shell over the top.  If you avoid the GUI and learn some of the very powerful command line tools, there's a huge volume of amazing things you can do.

I do a combination of R&D and sysadmin work for a visual effects company.  We use Linux and OSX as our primary OSes due to their enormous power.  Windows has it's use for corporate users noodling away at spreadsheets and similar "data silos", but is highly limiting for businesses like ours were we need complex, flexible pipelines and highly distributed computing outputting volumes of visual data being worked on by hundreds of people simultaneously.

Anyways, I'm not trying to turn this into an "OS wars" thread.  Windows has it's place.  It fits in nicely with the 80/20 rule of life, and greatly satisfies simpler business requirements.   Having used UNIX, Linux and OSX for so long, I'm only really interested in hardware that gives me access to this level of flexibility in my software.  My last cabinet (Moon Patrol clone) used an Raspberry Pi, and worked amazingly well thanks to the flexibility I had with Linux (no GUI desktop system running at all - all output direct to framebuffer, making it highly efficient even with it's limiting 512MB RAM shared between system and video).  I'm certain we'll see more and more of these "gumstick PCs" hitting the market in years to come, and I'm very excited to see how many of them embrace Linux as a way to really get the most out of the hardware.

[Slippyblade]

As far as the argument that you can use a normal desktop with Win8 rather than the tiles...  no.  The Metro UI is hard coded into it.  You can use a normal desktop but a TON of things will kick you right back into the tiles where you have to manually key back into the desktop.  Not to mention that windows no is using their "app" interface for things.  The built in PDF viewer?  Metro app.  lots of the built in media programs, Metro Apps.  It's stupid.  They built a tablet OS and then said, "You can kinda still use a normal desktop if you want"

[keilmillerjr]

As far as the argument that you can use a normal desktop with Win8 rather than the tiles...  no.  The Metro UI is hard coded into it.  You can use a normal desktop but a TON of things will kick you right back into the tiles where you have to manually key back into the desktop.  Not to mention that windows no is using their "app" interface for things.  The built in PDF viewer?  Metro app.  lots of the built in media programs, Metro Apps.  It's stupid.  They built a tablet OS and then said, "You can kinda still use a normal desktop if you want"

Change windows photo viewer to default instead of the Photo app. Download vlc player and set that as default instead of windows media player. DONE.

[BorgDog]

what jr said, I don't ever see the tile desktop unless I go looking for it.

[Slippyblade]

what jr said, I don't ever see the tile desktop unless I go looking for it.

Then you've never hit the "windows" key.

[ChanceKJ]

....hmmm...


I wonder if i can fit it into one of these....

[BorgDog]

what jr said, I don't ever see the tile desktop unless I go looking for it.

Then you've never hit the "windows" key.

I hit it all the time, it takes me to the Apps page.

[Generic Eric]

....hmmm...


I wonder if i can fit it into one of these....

Howzabout a dreamcast controller?

[Slippyblade]

what jr said, I don't ever see the tile desktop unless I go looking for it.

Then you've never hit the "windows" key.

I hit it all the time, it takes me to the Apps page.

Exactly, straight to the stupid tiles and AWAY from the desktop.

[Louis Tully]

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[Louis Tully]

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[ChanceKJ]

Yeah, that guy's just basically building a USB Storage device with the Konami Code as the access password.  I want a SNES paddle with All nintendo's titles, via my Maximus Arcade skin. I'd want it to plug into the back of a TV. run tow cables, one for power via USB, and an HDMI. Done.

[BorgDog]

what jr said, I don't ever see the tile desktop unless I go looking for it.

Then you've never hit the "windows" key.

I hit it all the time, it takes me to the Apps page.

Exactly, straight to the stupid tiles and AWAY from the desktop.

No, no tiles, just the listing of apps page, no live tiles crap.  Oh, and press it once again and I'm back at the desktop.   

[ChanceKJ]

Hmmm, this could be done... But it begs the question: SHOULD it be done.

[ChanceKJ]

[Generic Eric]

Hmmm, this could be done... But it begs the question: SHOULD it be done.

How does this get power?

[JDFan]

Hmmm, this could be done... But it begs the question: SHOULD it be done.

How does this get power?

Note the (Power) notation on the Micro USB port !

[TeamTEOR]

Guess it is a trial and error thing at this point like most things are. Hopefully these sticks can run the games on top of the OS without a major issue. What are the specs of these gum-sticks?

[ChanceKJ]

Guess it is a trial and error thing at this point like most things are. Hopefully these sticks can run the games on top of the OS without a major issue. What are the specs of these gum-sticks?

http://iotsolutionsalliance.intel.com/solutions-directory/nh1-–-smallest-windows-compute-stick-intel®-atom™-processor-z3735f

[Generic Eric]

How many bluetooth devices can this support at one?

Can it support audio, keyboard and mouse all at once? 

[stripe4]

Gotta say, as cool as it is windows 8.1 is not a selling point for most people I know.

Luckily a Linux vérsion is coming at the end of the quarter for $90!

I wonder why the Windows version of the stick costs $150 given that it comes with "Windows 8.1 with Bing" version which Microsoft gives to OEMs for free.
http://www.howtogeek.com/195934/what-exactly-is-windows-8.1-with-bing-do-i-have-to-use-bing/

[JDFan]

Gotta say, as cool as it is windows 8.1 is not a selling point for most people I know.

Luckily a Linux vérsion is coming at the end of the quarter for $90!

I wonder why the Windows version of the stick costs $150 given that it comes with "Windows 8.1 with Bing" version which Microsoft gives to OEMs for free.
http://www.howtogeek.com/195934/what-exactly-is-windows-8.1-with-bing-do-i-have-to-use-bing/

Because they can charge the premium and make more profit -- the general consumer does not yet realize that the 8.1 OEM license is given to  the OEM free and since the cheapest version that the same consumer can get for themselves is $100+(Since MS doesn't let the end user download that same version to use for themselves and instead tries to get them for the $100 profit itself) the consumers see it as an added benefit and are willing to pay a higher price for it - so the OEM obliges and charges the fee !

[Fursphere]

Also, a lot of retail computers are subsidized by the "crap-ware" that's pre-installed.  Windows cost $100 - Crap-Ware vendors pay retail brand $150 to pre-install crap ware.  Retailed gives you windows for "free"....

[stripe4]

Because they can charge the premium and make more profit -- the general consumer does not yet realize that the 8.1 OEM license is given to  the OEM free and since the cheapest version that the same consumer can get for themselves is $100+(Since MS doesn't let the end user download that same version to use for themselves and instead tries to get them for the $100 profit itself) the consumers see it as an added benefit and are willing to pay a higher price for it - so the OEM obliges and charges the fee !

Consumers typically do not see how much Microsoft charges an OEM for a Windows license. It's cases like these when a PC is offered with either Windows or Linux, one can estimate that number from the price difference.
In this case Windows license costs nothing, and I would even say that the OEM is being charged some money for Linux (someone had to tailor a distro for the stick).
I would even argue that it is actually Microsoft who is being ripped off here most. The Windows license is being given to an OEM at no charge with an intent to make the end product more attractive (cheaper) to a consumer when compared to Chromebooks, Androids on a stick, or notebooks with Ubuntu preinstalled, and not as means for an OEM to make more profit.