NUC CRACKER, SWEET!
Ashley McKinnon knows good things come in small packages
Intel kind of paved the way for Stick PC’s with their original Compute Stick
As we move towards a world where everything is getting smaller, the desktop PC hasn’t quite kept pace. Desktop and tower PC’s are pretty much the same size as they have been for the last couple of years. A new trend is starting to emerge however and is threatening to clear that valuable real estate on your desk. Mini PC’s, while not a new concept, are becoming increasingly popular as they get more powerful and therefore more useful. Let’s take a closer look at this trending category and see what’s fanning the fires.
Mini PC’s basically come in two different flavours. You have the small boxy mini PC’s, which are like scaled down versions of their big brother machines. There are also Stick PC’s (basically, as the name would suggest, a PC on a stick). The main push for these types of computers was to introduce very low power alternatives to the existing larger PC’s. Since they used less power, they produced less heat and many Mini PC’s run completely silent as there is no need for cooling. Portability also factored in – with the ability to simply unplug your computer and plug in somewhere else easily.
Mini PC’s are certainly the most popular in this category. These small PC’s are typically a small square box with enough room for a single SSD hard drive (some can also fit an mSata drive as well), some ram and a processor. Examples of these types of Mini PC’s include the Intel NUC series, the Gigabyte BRIX series and the MSI Cubi series. Nearly all vendors have begun jumping into this arena so a quick search of most vendor sites will come up with a Mini PC option.
On the inside these Mini PC’s house a notebook style motherboard and can have a variety of processor options ranging from Intel Atom up to Intel i7. Depending on how much you’re willing to spend some can be quite high end and are truly to be considered as a desktop replacement. Nearly all will utilise on board Intel graphics but some of the Gigabyte BRIX series have nVidia and ATi based graphics so could be an option if you’re looking to build a gaming computer or Steam machine. Many of these Mini PC’s have also just gone through a hardware update with the release of the Skylake processor line so they are even more powerful but still remain power friendly.
Price too is an advantage for these systems. This needs to be scrutinized though as most of these Mini PC’s are offered as barebones packages. This means you will need to add your own hard drive and ram – and also an operating system to run on it.
Intel kind of paved the way for Stick PC’s with their original Compute Stick released in April 2015. This was an Intel based computer, running either windows 8.1 or Ubuntu Linux that plugged into the HDMI port of either a monitor or TV. Powered by an Intel Atom Z3735F processor with 2GB ram and 32GB of EMMC storage (or 1GB of ram and 8GB EMMC for the Ubuntu Linux version) they came with a single USB 2.0 port and SD Card slot for storage expansion. Built in Wifi and Bluetooth rounded out the feature set. The whole device is quite small – about double the size of a standard USB stick.
Initially many claimed it was the next step forward in computing but after spending time using them it soon became apparent they just wasn’t fast enough for most people and proved to be a major let down.
Skip forward just over year later and the Intel Compute Stick is now in its second generation. Today’s’ Intel Compute Stick runs the Intel Core M (M3 and M5) processor, with ram bumped up to 4GB with Windows 10 preinstalled. Users and reviewers alike are liking the new Intel Compute Stick a lot more than its predecessor due mainly to it speed increase – but also the fact it has a USB 3.0 port (and much more reliable Wifi).
Competitors to the Intel Compute Stick include the Asus Chromebit, which come packaged with the Chrome OS and web browser. It sports a quad core Rockchip processor and 2GB of ram. While outwardly it may not have the draw of a Windows or Linux based machine, the Chromebit can run any application from the Chrome Store and is finding ground as a way of turning any TV with a HDMI port into a Smart TV.
Others are on their way. Doing a search on Kickstarter or IndieGoGo will show you that many new, more powerful stick computers are coming so it’s an accelerating field.
A quick look on eBay or Amazon will also point you towards other Stick PC products – though these tend to be Android based devices. While there’s nothing wrong with that, and that they do run most applications available on the Google Play Store they do tend to have a limited function. Most are used primarily as media streamers and players, or for playing your mobile phone games on your TV.
Another option here that may have escaped your attention is the humble Raspberry Pi. This very low cost computer is in fact a mini PC, as you can load a Linux based operating system on it, plug it into a TV or Monitor and use it for a variety of tasks. This includes setting up as a media streamer, retro games machine and low cost desktop.
If you are interested in one of the Mini PC’s you first need to workout exactly what it is you are going to use it for. As there is quite a variety of options, and difference in performance and capabilities, knowing what you want to do will be key to making the right choice.
Remember too that most of the Mini PC’s are supplied as barebones, so be sure to factor in the cost of extras such as hard drives and RAM when heading off to your local computer supplier.