Intel Compute Stick now available for pre-order: Linux version starts at $110, Windows at $150
Brad Linder / Liliputing :
Context & Ripple Effects
Intel's January unveiling of the Compute Stick promised a quad-core PC on an HDMI dongle for $149 with Windows or $89 with Linux; today's pre-order opening ships those SKUs at $110 for Linux and $150 for Windows — the Windows price held while the Linux version gained $21 between announce and shelf.
The Ars Technica review published weeks later frames why pricing matters here: the stick's small size, efficiency, and low cost come at the expense of barely acceptable performance and few ports, so every dollar of price creep tightens an already narrow value proposition.
First-order effects
- Buyers can now actually purchase the Compute Stick, with the Linux SKU repriced to $110 versus the $89 announced in January, narrowing its discount over the $150 Windows version.
- The Linux variant's appeal as the budget option weakens: a $40 gap over Windows at launch has become a $40-to-$10 question depending on which announced price you compare against.
Second-order effects
- Rivals move in below Intel on the Windows side: Lenovo's Ideacenter Stick 300 at $130 and Asus's $129 VivoStick both undercut Intel's $150 Windows stick within months, turning the category into a price war Intel no longer sets.
- With performance capped by the form factor per the review, differentiation shifts to the details Intel itself iterates on next generation — faster wireless and USB 3.0 in the 2016 Atom and Core M sticks, which also carry higher prices.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the PC-on-a-stick settles into a durable niche: a sub-$160 commodity tier where Intel defines the template and licensees like Lenovo and Asus compete on price and port selection rather than performance.
- The Linux-on-cheap-hardware tier that the original $89 price targeted gets squeezed out as OEMs standardize on Windows for these devices — consistent with the broader pattern of Windows dominating low-cost x86 form factors.
The trend: The HDMI-stick PC is maturing from Intel's single experiment into a licensed commodity category, with Windows crowding out Linux at the low end and successive generations trading price for better wireless and I/O.