The Asus VivoStick is a $129 PC-on-a-stick that runs Windows 10
Behold the latest HDMI stick that instantly transforms into a full-fledged Windows PC when plugged into a TV or compatible monitor. The Asus VivoStick is Asus' answer for Intel's Compute Stick; it's a PC you can carry in your pocket.
Context & Ripple Effects
The HDMI stick PC has gone from Intel experiment to crowded shelf in under a year. Intel's original Compute Stick launched in January at $149 for Windows and $89 for Linux, hit pre-order by April, and drew a [[a:828516|mixed review praising size, efficiency, and price while flagging barely acceptable performance]] — establishing both the template and its limits.
Asus is now the second big OEM to follow: weeks after Lenovo's $130 IdeaCentre Stick 300, the VivoStick arrives at $129 running Windows 10, undercutting Intel's own Windows stick by roughly $20. With Google and ASUS later shipping the $85 Chromebit on Chrome OS, the category is being fought on price across two operating systems.
First-order effects
- Asus enters direct competition with its own silicon supplier: at $129 the VivoStick undercuts Intel's $149-150 Windows Compute Stick while using Intel hardware inside it.
- Buyers of cheap secondary PCs get a lower entry point than Intel's own offering, with Lenovo's $130 stick now matched dollar-for-dollar.
Second-order effects
- Intel faces margin pressure on its own branded stick as licensees undercut it — the classic pattern where the reference design becomes the price floor its partners race beneath.
- Chrome OS gains a price weapon against Windows at the bottom of the market: the Chromebit's $85 tag forces Windows sticks to justify their premium on app compatibility alone.
Third-order effects
- If the Ars Technica critique holds — performance sacrificed for size and price — stick PCs settle into a niche of thin clients and media devices rather than replacing desktops, pushing vendors to differentiate on ports and chips rather than the HDMI form factor itself.
- Compute migrating into the display cable points toward genericized, commodity mini-PCs where the OS choice (Windows vs Chrome) matters more than the brand on the stick.
The trend: The PC-on-a-stick is rapidly commoditizing, with OEM clones and Chrome OS rivals driving prices down from Intel's $149 reference point toward an $85 floor.