The Intel Compute Stick is apparently in quite high demand, as it is now already sold out shortly after going up for pre-order.
The popular PC-on-a-stick is a tiny dongle that plugs into an HDMI port to rock a full-PC experience on a budget. The Intel Compute Stick made its official debut back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015 and has now gone up for pre-order on several online retailers such as Newegg and Amazon. As it turns out, the gadget is a big hit and has already sold out.
Newegg started taking pre-orders for the Compute Stick in two OS versions, initially listing a release date of April 24. The delivery date was then pushed back to May 1, and the gadget quickly ran out of stock in both OS versions. The retailer offered the Windows 8.1-powered version of the gadget for $150 and the Linux version for $110, and both of them sold out. Amazon also listed both the Windows 8.1 and the Linux models of the Intel Compute Stick, but both appear as unavailable at the time of writing.
For those unfamiliar with the gadget, the Intel Compute Stick is a tiny 4-inch HDMI dongle that connects to a monitor and turns into a fully-capable PC. In terms of specs, the PC-on-a-stick features an Intel Baytrail Atom quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage capacity, as well as USB 2.0 and microUSB. The device further sports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity.
All it takes to fire up the Intel Compute Stick is plug it into a monitor's HDMI port and turn it on. The device will quickly boot up, and load the user's chosen operating system (Windows 8.1 or Linux). Paired with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, the gadget can deliver a full PC experience that you can take with you anywhere.
While the Intel Compute Stick will not rival laptops and PCs, it will most likely go head to head with the newly-announced ASUS Chromebit PC, which made its debut last week. The Chromebit similarly plugs into an HDMI monitor and aims to deliver a full computing experience. The big difference lies in the operating system, as the ASUS Chromebit runs Google's Chrome OS rather than Windows 8.1 or Linux. The Chromebit will hit commercial availability this summer, sporting a price tag of less than $100.
