ARCHOS Enters PC Stick Market with Budget Windows 10 Computer - The UpStream

At CES this year, Intel showed off smaller Windows PCs. Following the NUC, they also unveiled the Compute Stick, a device that has prompted a new category of computing technology. Similar to devices like the Chromecast from Google, the big separator is that these devices run Windows, meaning you can use them for real work in a very small package.

After Intel's $150 Compute Stick came Lenovo's $130 ideacentre Stick 300 and BeeLink's $300 Pocket P2. While the BeeLink device has since dropped to $130, it is still above that $100 price point. That is where ARCHOS' new PC Stick comes in, priced at just $99. All of the new devices, including the newest from ARCHOS, have the same specs: quad-core 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3735F processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage and a microSD slot.

In addition to the price, ARCHOS differentiated itself from the pack by offering its computer in Windows blue instead of the generic black that everyone else is sticking with. While the company did not announce a release date, they did say that the device would ship with Windows 10, as opposed to Windows 8.1, meaning that customers will not be required to upgrade the device shortly after purchasing it, making it a far better experience.

As Windows 10 get closer to market, which is currently just a month away, it is likely we will see more companies find interest in announcing products in this category. Currently we have not heard from companies like Acer, Dell, Microsoft themselves or HP, though they are a little busy splitting the company. Hopefully, as some of the other companies get into the fray, we will begin to see a split in hardware specs giving more choice depending on needs.