WHAT IS THE INTEL COMPUTE STICK?

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Intel has created a cheap, basic desktop computer that’s small enough to fit inside your pocket. The Intel Compute Stick plugs into any monitor or television with an HDMI connection, so you can take your pictures, documents and presentations around with you practically anywhere. It also runs your choice of operating system, with Windows and Ubuntu supported.

However, the Compute Stick feels like it’s very much in its experimental phase. While promising, we’re not convinced it’s polished enough to warrant you dipping into your pocket. For now, anyway.

 

INTEL COMPUTE STICK – DESIGN

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Strictly speaking you could consider the Intel Compute Stick a desktop PC, but it looks very un-desktop-like. It’s essentially a small black box dotted with holes and ports, and branded with a clean, white Intel logo.

It’s a funky-looking thing that immediately catches your eye, and it’s tiny. Around the same size as a chocolate bar, it comfortably fits in the palm of your hand and, more importantly, tucks neatly away behind your monitor or TV. Many would instantly think it a USB stick, but the protrusion at the bottom is an HDMI connection not USB.

Technically speaking, the Compute Stick is a nonahedron (nine-sided), with a front face shaped like an irregular pentagon. This front face is also covered in shiny plastic, while the other eight sides are matte. Similarly, all corners and edges are sharp and pointy, apart from the one at the foot of the front face, which is gently curved.

 

INTEL COMPUTE STICK – SETUP

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Intel’s instructions paint a picture of glorious simplicity, merely telling you to plug the Stick into a HDMI port on any monitor or TV and enjoy the fruits of your minimal labour. However, it’s a little tougher than that.

Plugging it into a compatible monitor is easy, and Intel helpfully includes a HDMI extension cable in the box if the back of your screen is a little overcrowded. There’s also a power cable, though it’s relatively short and you’d struggle to reach a socket that isn’t in the immediate vicinity of your monitor or TV.

We had to switch the Stick on and off again several times before it finally took. We’re not entirely sure why this happened, but it left us scratching our heads for a little while.

Foolishly thinking we’d vaulted the biggest hurdle, we then stumbled headlong into another. The Compute Stick only features one USB port, which is problematic if you don’t already own Bluetooth-enabled peripherals. We had a Bluetooth mouse to hand, but not a Bluetooth keyboard.