Slashdot Mirror
Intel's Compute Card Is a PC That Can Fit In Your Wallet (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Intel mostly missed the boat on smartphones, but the company is trying to establish a firm foothold in the ever-broadening marketplace for connected appliances and other smart things. Intel's latest effort in this arena is its new "Compute Card," a small 94.5mm by 55mm by 5mm slab that includes a CPU and GPU, RAM, storage, and wireless connectivity. Intel hasn't given us specific information about the specs and speeds of its first Compute Cards, but you can expect the fastest ones to approach the performance of high-end fanless laptops like Apple's MacBooks. Intel told us that processors with a TDP of up to 6W could fit inside the Compute Cards, which covers both low-power Atom chips like those that powered early versions of Intel's Compute Stick to full Core M and Y-series Core i5 and i7 CPUs like the ones you find in laptops. Intel says that the card uses a variant of the USB-C port called "USB-C plus extension" to connect with the systems it's plugged into. That connector gives devices direct access to the USB and PCIe buses as well as HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs. The company considers the Compute Card to be a replacement of sorts for the Compute Stick, which Intel says will probably disappear from its roadmap in 2018 or so. The issue with the Compute Stick from Intel's perspective is that its input and output ports were unnecessarily limiting -- it could only connect to HDMI ports and could only accept a limited number of USB inputs. The Compute Card can be slid into a wider variety of enclosures that can use all kinds of ports and display interfaces, and Intel says the Card will also offer a large array of performance and storage options, unlike current Compute Sticks.
So what. So is a smartphone
with a NUC that can take 64GB of RAM...
Looks like they just took their compute stick and changed the dimensions a bit.
If you buy this device, Intel still owns it due to the binary blobs that are required to run things. The future will be open hardware; support RISC-V projects, like this one.
It's called a smartphone! Amazing stuff! Welcome to the 21st century Intel! We know you haven't been trying for the past decade with your CPUs but really....
For any mass-produced product, this will likely be significantly more expensive than including an ARM processor on a single logic board that controls the other functions of the product, e.g. a TV. People want cheap electronics that look cool, not upgradable ones. Apple understands this, although I personally hate it. I just don't see much potential for this, although it's cool.
I don't know, but it works for me.
Lets hope it is using the EOMA68 standard.
I have a 1st and 2nd generation stick. Both have issues with Bluetooth and wifi. With such limited capacity for connecting peripherals, that kinda sucks.
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
Intel's Compute Card Is a PC That Can Fit In Your Wallet
So Capital One will now have to upgrade their commercial.
How is the USB-C implementation different from Thunderbolt 3? Is it because it natively supports HDMI as well as USB 3, PCIe, and DisplayPort, if that is what "direct access" means?
If it is the same, why don't they just call it a Thunderbolt 3 port? If Intel has developed a port that has the capabilities of Thunderbolt 3 + native HDMI, since they own Thunderbolt, why don't they just make that port the Thunderbolt spec rather than engineering two different but very similar ports?
There has been a computer dot which Indians connect to their forehead for centuries. It has the same magical powers and functionality. Ha Ha!!!!
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
Cool technology, in search of an application. Why would I want to carry an underpowered PC around with me?
I could see a $50 version being a cool "WTF it's only $50 so why not" PC to add to a television, I guess?
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
http://www.intel.com/content/w...
A vending machine with HDD's that if it is an drop one likely will damage them and a coin slot so put in $1 $5 $10 $20 $50 $100's in and get back coins in change I hope it has dollar coins in there.
Intel is going to invent the Raspberry Pi?? whoa!
Does anyone else miss their Franklin REX organizer?
Based on my experience with the latest generation of Compute Sticks, the basic problem with these devices is that they are power-limited. Some of the Compute Stick devices have m3- and m5- processors, which would suggest that the devices can do a fair amount of computation. However, the processors can't perform up to their potential because they are power-limited as implemented on the boards. So, until Intel can substantially reduce the amount of power required per compute cycle, they are not all that useful, and as someone else has commented, ARM processors may be a better match for this class of device.
People already have a computer in their pocket, as suggested in the first sentence. Besides a universal I/O bus, what does this offer? Why not just create a universal expansion port for cell phones? The market will be far larger there, instead of creating another entry into the home-brew computing line-up.
My compute stick has absolutely no issues with AC Wifi. It's fast as hell and most importantly stable. Perhaps your router is the issue? I have zero issues with mine in that department across the house + behind a cinder block wall. The only downside to my compute stick is that it gets too hot to touch. While sticking out the side of a TV not a big deal but lay it on your desk and expect burn marks. I'd rather see them make a BIGGER compute stick just for the sake of adding a larger heatsink.
2GB of RAM on the cherry trail does not last long before getting bogged down on Windows 10 too. Performance is slow as expected but I thought they would run with it and make generational improvements that I would definitely purchase in the future. They've been wildly successful products so it's not like they can say there isn't money to be made. It's an amazing concept and I love my compute stick even with all the drawbacks of heat and IO. I can get by just fine on the limited USB ports. I mean just add a small hub FFS or use a unifying mouse/KB dongle like logitech products have. I really don't understand the complaints about USB ports, it's like no one has ever heard of a USB hub. These things were designed to turn a TV into a PC, not to jack in every F'ing peripheral you own.
Yeah it's HDMI only but most GPU's, monitors, and TV's are still being equipped with HDMI these days anyway. I would have rather seen them go with display port as it's obviously the superior platform plus there's no patent royalty. I would rather see them take the compute stick to the next level with better cooling and slowly improving the form factor. The heat is a major major problem that is killing off a lot of compute sticks. Longevity is not in the cards for most of them, they will burn up eventually judging from all the complaints of dead compute sticks on forums and youtube. Heat dissipation is a major issue. Get some active cooling on it now while you can and help to improve longevity by reducing the severity of lifespan heat cycles.
For $100-$200 the compute stick can't be beat. The higher end compute sticks for over $300 lose hands down to the NUC in terms of value. There is a sweet spot when the NUC starts becoming the more logical choice. At $120 or less you can't beat a compute stick for size and value (price vs performance). I got my brother one as a gift just to see how it would do. He absolutely loved it and so did I, to the point I bought one for myself too.
What most people don't know is if they are trying to compete with EOMA68 it'll be interesting because years ago Intel said privately that they didn't want to undermine their market which is why they weren't going to go down this modular computing path. Intel was in communication with the designer behind EOMA68 too and I know they wouldn't have gone that route, but may have felt threatened by it, or wanted to compete in this new market. The problem is EOMA68 is much more about freedom in computing for end users and lowering the barriers to producing computing devices that are fully free and in the users control. These devices can be much better supported because the development community has full control over the software that runs on the device and the systems that adopt the standard will be cheaper for end users because they don't have to be replaced in their entirety when one wants to upgrade to the next generation of CPU/GPU/RAM/etc. You don't need to replace the whole laptop. It's just a matter of ejecting your old EOMA68 gen 1 card for a EOMA68 gen 2 card.
People poo-poo the idea of non-X86 CPUs completing failing to recognize the inherent issues that sticking to X86 has in terms of performance. If you want to go faster faster faster then you have to start to move away from X86. X86 has to be smaller and smaller in order to compete and there are limits to that. Intel had the technology to adapt and were so afraid that it would open the door to competition that they killed it. Unless they move away from X86 even via backdoor compatibility layer there will come a time in the near future (it's been a long time in coming) where non-X86 (non-Intel/AMD) chips will be competitive with and outpace what Intel and AMD are able to do with X86.
... because it's Intel: Shittiest driver support on the planet.
As impressive a feat as this might appear, at first, one must remember that Apple devices running last year's A9X are already faster than the Apple MacBook running Intel's equivalent processor, according to the latest GeekBench numbers - http://wccftech.com/apple-a9xi.... So, I fully expect that newer devices running Apple's A10 or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 (that are slightly larger than a credit card due to some additional features that Intel's compute cards lack, such as a touch screen, gyro, motion, barometric, gps, cdma, gsm, lte, wifi, dsp, hsm, etc.) to already be a lot faster than Intel's fastest Compute Cards (assuming that the MacBook remains the benchmark performance).
I think that what Intel's Compute Cards will have going for them will be accessibility, programability, price and the ease of interfacing them to custom devices for developers... That is what Intel should be emphasizing. Vending machines, signage displays, self service kiosks, home automation hubs, assembly line robots, etc. do not need lots of computing power... but they need reliability, availability and dependability with minimal human intervention in some of the harshest environments, every single day of the year.
I don't think this is the consumer-oriented product that people seem to be assuming it is. This isn't a computer you're going to carry around in your wallet. It's a computer that is going to fit into slots in vending machines, kiosks, and so on. And thus be "upgradable", though that remains to be seen over the lifetime of the hardware it will fit into.
Instead of being like a compute stick, this appears to be more akin to a PCMCIA (remember those?) card, or a CableCard that is intended to help PVRs work (though every PVR maker except TIVO, and all of the cable/satellite providers, hate).
6 Watts may not seem like much but when it is dissipated in a package that small it will be too hot to handle. I've worked on devices that were about 4x the volume of these cards and were uncomfortable to hold while dissipating only 5 Watts.
I have a phone in my pocket now.. it doesn't require finding a display or keyboard to function. ( and dont bitch at me, look at the target market " you can stake your PC with you "... )
We need a PC in a dildo form-factor; ideally using Xeon processors for high-availability.
That means I will have two trojans in my wallet.
Marketing.
"The company considers the Compute Card to be a replacement of sorts for the Compute Stick, which Intel says will probably disappear from its roadmap in 2018 or so."
If they could complete this in a year, they should already be back to the mobile business.
It would be nice see one, but it's no doubt it's just marketing hype.
If you buy this device, Intel still owns it due to the binary blobs that are required to run things. The future will be open hardware; support RISC-V projects, like this one.
What is the OS of choice that Intel uses for this card?
I am using this setup with current m3 compute stick and lubuntu and it makes a great desktop for productivity apps and 4K video for ridiculously low cost. Hit and miss with Steam though, and VMWare/Wine freeze trying to emulate DirectX for Windows only games. For some reason, Unity introduces more slowdown than pretty much anything else, hence LXDE.
If they improve GPU performance in next generation, this will be a great replacement for pretty much anything.
Imagine an office environment where each desk/meeting room includes a monitor/keyboard/mouse for each user where the monitor passes through all connectivity via USB-C. Each user just carries a tiny lightweight computer that is "theirs" with all associated configuration/application/data, plugs it into the USB-C socket and off they go.
Not so different from having a laptop, except the devices are smaller, lighter, and cheaper - and with a higher quality screen, keyboard, and mouse. Sure you are constrained to work at points where there is a monitor, but in many cases this is a great solution.
-- Pete.
Monochrome - Probably the UK's largest internet BBS
The article you link is misleading... The Intel chips being compared with the A9X in that article are Broadwell... 2 generations behind compared to the A9X which is the current chip. The A10X will have to be compete with Cannonlake, not the Skylake chips you see in the current Mac lineup. Assuming the A10X scales from the A10 about the same as the A9X scales from the A9, and Intel IPC generational improvements are about the same as past ones... single core ~6W TDP 2.2 GHz A10X is going to be close to raw single core performance of the ~4.5W TDP ~1.2 GHz Cannonlake, but the even the low power Cannonlake CPU will retain a commanding lead on multi core performance.
The one place where Apple ARM does actually dominate Intel is integrated graphics performance. It's incredible to me how Intel graphics are still so far behind everyone else. At least the recent Intel GPUs render mostly correct now and the graphics drivers are pretty stable at this point. The one advantage that Apple (and other ARM vendors) have on the GPU front that they don't need to implement DirectX + OpenGL in their silicon, a luxury that nVidia/AMD/Intel don't get.
The most intersting small-form-factor board I've seen recently is the new SensorTile from ST. It provides a 32bit ARM processor with FPU, bluetooth and microphone in a cm2 headset-scale pcb, with various docking boards for USB, microSD etc development.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
i'm the creator and guardian of the EOMA68 standard, and someone just brought the intel compute card to my attention on the mailing list. the intel compute card is *exactly* the same size as EOMA68, which in turn is based on legacy PCMCIA casework and connector re-use: credit-card-sized at: 54 x 86 x 5mm. fortunately, from the BBC video, if you check 30 seconds in the connector is completely different (otherwise intel would have a Certification Mark infringment case on their hands): it looks like it's Mini-PCIe which, if that's true, would be a very sensible choice as it contains USB2, one PCIe lane, some GPIO and power.
i do wonder if my discussions with intel over the past couple of years, as well as the crowd-funding campaign which i'm here in taiwan presently to fulfil, have spurred them to go "i know! let's make our own computer card standard just like that guy did because he said "NO" when it came to having hardware-level spying capability in the BIOS through the Intel Management Engine, with the resultant *complete* meltdown from a security perspective as outlined here https://libreboot.org/faq/#int... "
i'll be watching this with interest, because standards, i've learned, live and die by whether the designers have enough foresight to design it with upgradeability in mind, as well as have the balls to say NO when it comes to "adding options" that are not backwards-compatible.
compute card: credit card sized - 94.50 mm × 55.00 mm × 5,00 mm
credit card size - 85.60 mm × 53.98 mm
At half a centimetre thick, I don't think so! Maybe ON TOP OF my wallet...
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
I'm not so concerned about it fitting in my wallet, but I'd really love to see a cross-manufacturer standard replaceable unit for "smart" TVs, because screens last a lot longer than the (secure, updated) usable life of the "smart" components. In not too many years there are going to be a lot of TVs around running the TV equivalent of Froyo or Gingerbread, on hardware that's just as aged as the OS will be.
fencepost
just a little off