Lenovo undercuts Intel's Compute Stick with cheaper Ideacentre Stick 300

[Shawn Knight]

Lenovo is the latest PC maker to join the budding PC-on-a-stick movement. The company on Tuesday announced the Ideacentre Stick 300, a wallet-friendly compute stick suitable for use in multiple scenarios.

The Ideacentre Stick 300 is powered by an Intel Atom Z3735F “Bay Trail” processor alongside 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The tiny computer connects to a television or monitor via HDMI and offers a micro USB 2.0 port (for power), a full-size USB port, a microSD card reader, integrated 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.

The PC measures 15mm thick and will ship with Windows 8.1 but will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10 starting July 29.

Lenovo says its mini machine is ideal for media, web browsing, video chatting and content creation in the home, dorm or at the office.

If you’re thinking this sounds very similar to Intel’s Computer Stick, well, you’d be right. Lenovo’s solution is powered by the same CPU and includes identical amounts of RAM and storage as well as the same connectivity options. The big draw here is that Lenovo’s PC-on-a-stick is $20 cheaper (let’s keep our fingers crossed that Lenovo isn’t using bloatware to help offset the price difference).

The Ideacentre Stick 300 starts at $129 and will be available sometime this fall. It’s worth mentioning that Intel is rumored to be working on a more powerful stick PC that’ll have a Core M processor along with double the RAM and storage. "Power users” might want to hold off until then.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/61089-lenovo-undercuts-intel-compute-stick-cheaper-ideacentre-stick.html

 

[hahahanoobs]

It's too bad HDMI couldn't supply the power.

 

[Awen24]

Why on earth are people producing these with a previous generation Wifi standard?
If someone were to produce a stick with AC wireless, I'd jump on it. ...as it is, you'd struggle to transmit any kind of HD stream using wireless N (reliably), which makes something like this borderline worthless as a media centre option.

 

[EEatGDL]

Why on earth are people producing these with a previous generation Wifi standard?
If someone were to produce a stick with AC wireless, I'd jump on it. ...as it is, you'd struggle to transmit any kind of HD stream using wireless N (reliably), which makes something like this borderline worthless as a media centre option.

The last paragraph contains exciting information that may address your concerns [and mine]. I'm going for the Core M for my mother.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Of the 32 gigs storage it has, 30 gigs is probably taken up by Lenovo's stock & trade malware, spyware and crapware.

 

[Guest]

I dont get those hdmi sticks.

They look horrible on the back of the TV, have bad cooling and overall formfactor makes little sense.

I prefer Apple TV like formfactor much better. Some chinese factories realized this and are already making those with exact same hardware as lenovo stick. For around 40$ less.

 

[drjekelmrhyde]

I dont get those hdmi sticks.

They look horrible on the back of the TV, have bad cooling and overall formfactor makes little sense.

I prefer Apple TV like formfactor much better. Some chinese factories realized this and are already making those with exact same hardware as lenovo stick. For around 40$ less.

Who looks at the back of their TV?

 

[Phr3d]

I can live with the omg, not again performance of the Atom semi-processor (win10 updates take 3-4 hours), but if you're gonna make a knock-off, why not Add rather than discount? The second gen -could- offer 4GB RAM, USB 3.0, Separate AC wifi and bluetooth chips so that they can function simultaneously, and BIOS support or structure that treats the SD card as a Real HD, not a crap toy that Win refuses to treat as a drive (OneDrive refuses to use it, for instance).
So close and yet so very very far.