Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Intel's Super Portable Compute Card Could Be Your Real Pocket PC (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the miniature-computers dept.

An anonymous reader writes (edited and condensed for length): Smartphones are already computers in our pockets, but Intel's new Compute Card turns an actual PC into something you can take with you wherever you go. Equipped with a range of processor options -- including an ultra-efficient Celeron, and notebook-class Core i5s, this slap that looks like a USB backup battery is attracting a range of interest from Intel OEM partners hoping to use it for everything from smart signage to modular notebooks. The Intel Compute Card, which was originally revealed at CES earlier this year, will come in a range of configurations that include up to 4GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage, as well as built-in AC 8265 wireless networking and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, the company said today at Computex. Intel also announced availability of the Compute Card Device Design Kit today, which will let OEM partners create devices that work with the modular computing core. LG Display, Sharp, Dell, HP and Lenovo are already working on accessory solutions for Compute Card, Intel said.

61 comments

  1. Not Unique and Not Pocket Sized by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I fail to see how this is truly pocket-sized. I have a "Vensmile Win10 Mini PC that isn't much bigger and is already on the market. This one still needs the dock to handle the I/O. I also have USB stick PC's that are powered by my TV USB port. Yes, Intel's is slightly faster, but the Vensmile one is fully capable of streaming HD video and of course, internet stuffs.

    1. Re:Not Unique and Not Pocket Sized by chispito · · Score: 2

      I fail to see how this is truly pocket-sized. I have a "Vensmile Win10 Mini PC that isn't much bigger and is already on the market. This one still needs the dock to handle the I/O. I also have USB stick PC's that are powered by my TV USB port. Yes, Intel's is slightly faster, but the Vensmile one is fully capable of streaming HD video and of course, internet stuffs.

      Yes, it's definitely pocketable: 95 x 55 x 5 mm. So: 5 mm thick and slightly longer than a credit card. I don't see how it matters because both seem like solutions in search of problems, but Intel's is much smaller than the one you linked (slightly less than one third the volume).

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:Not Unique and Not Pocket Sized by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 2

      Intel's is much smaller than the one you linked (slightly less than one third the volume).

      Intel's one is only smaller if you ignore the dock that it must plug into. That was the point of the original post; it never even claimed that the Vensmile PC was smaller than Intel's Computer Card. If you ignore the dock then you might as well say that your desktop PC is smaller as well, because you can pull out the CPU and carry it around in your pocket too.

      That said, the two products don't really compete with each other, despite what the /. headline says. Intel's solution is made to slot in to become the brain of third party devices. It has a different target audience than people looking for a pocket PC.

    3. Re:Not Unique and Not Pocket Sized by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2

      I don't see how it matters because both seem like solutions in search of problems

      That's the key point. No-one's really interested if Company A's gimmick is 5mm slimmer than Company B's gimmick if there's no obvious use for them. The original article is notably missing any real applications, just two suggestions, smart signage which can be done with some generic Android box from China (God knows Intel can't make anything cheap, who knows what their solution will end up costing), and modular notebooks, which no-one needs since we've already got an infinite variety of non-modular ones that work just fine. So it's just Intel's engineers showing off.

    4. Re:Not Unique and Not Pocket Sized by Djoulihen · · Score: 1

      It's more pocket-sized than most smartphones nowadays.

  2. Another proprietary interface by Compuser · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am personally not excited. The RAM and storage capacities are about 8X lower than required for modern computing. But the biggest issue arises when looking at the pictures: the card seems to have a slot interface of some sort. Why not just give this card a thunderbolt 3 port or two. There are already docking stations fort those. Why does Intel want to reinvent its own wheel?

    1. Re:Another proprietary interface by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Came here to comment similarly. My Cell phone has more RAM.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:Another proprietary interface by disgruntledlurker · · Score: 1

      This is not designed to be a high-end desktop replacement - it is meant to give you portable/small footprint computing power. And to be fair - you can't compute w/ less than 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage? Really?

    3. Re:Another proprietary interface by Compuser · · Score: 2

      I do scientific computing. Yes, RAM and storage are good things for me. It would be nice to take my entire work volume home and work in the evenings without ever exposing my computer or data to the network. And that is doable. But having it pocketable still seems like a dream.

    4. Re:Another proprietary interface by TWX · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's because for the moment it is a dream. This device was not designed with you in mind. It was designed to replace devices that have historically been serial controlled such that a full-featured computer can be used in their stead. HVAC controllers, lighting controllers, digital signboards, point of sale registers, kiosks, etc. Raw computing power is not the goal, having a computer at all is; expanding the Internet of Things.

      My concern is that after-the-sale support will be scant to nonexistent, and we will have even more unpatched IoT things live in the wild, but now we're adding more and more computing power to the mix. I could see these being co-opted for illcit cryptocurrency mining, or as part of botnets set up as parallel-distributed computing to try to break crypto passwords from stolen hashes in a brute-force technique, or any number of other nefarious uses where computing power would help.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nvidia and some others are offering those gaming services online for low-end devices. The big cloud companies are offering places to put and run virtual machines on. Combine the types of services and take your whole scientific workload in a fully interactive format where ever with a great network connection you go.. ;) Of course, large engineering companies are already doing things like this internally on a global scale.

    6. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      32GB of RAM is about 8X more than required for the vast vast, vast majority of modern computing.

    7. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Why does Intel want to reinvent its own wheel?

      Intel wants the equipment manufacturers to get off their arse and build something new and compelling. The skinny laptops, mini PCs, almost every innovation in laptops over the years, fucktons of new better interfaces, effective enclosures for servers, more efficient data center power distribution etc. . They all came from 'demonstrators' that Intel put out. Some for sale, some just shipped to the manufacturers to say "Look, you could try something like this". Compute sticks, cards and presumably dots sometime soon, are exactly another item on this continuum. You don't get to see much of it, but some of it, like this leaks out as a product.

    8. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your cell phone has more RAM? What cell phone do you own? Looking at a lot of the latest Android phones or iPhones... they tend to have 2 or 3 GB of RAM... this story is about something with up to 4 GB of RAM.

    9. Re:Another proprietary interface by green1 · · Score: 1

      If computing power isn't the goal, simply having a computer at all. What application would pick this over a Raspberry Pi that's likely to be less than 1/4 the cost?

    10. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Problem is that if one tries to use Windows with less than 8GB, the system is slow as hell. Of course the first boot may happen fast, but when one installs a malware scanner and the Windows 10 starts its background spying, the system will just start swapping due to lack of RAM. With Linux this system might be a usable for running systemd.

    11. Re:Another proprietary interface by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

      OnePlus 3T, 6GB Ram

      CPU Qualcomm® Snapdragon 821 Quad Core, Kryo: 2x 2.35 GHz, 2x 1.6 GHz
      GPU Adreno 530
      RAM 6GB LPDDR4
      Storage 64GB / 128GB UFS 2.0

      Closing Apps is a thing of the past. Increases battery life by not having to power through memory swaps.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    12. Re:Another proprietary interface by TWX · · Score: 1

      Basically any application where the primary user is not an IT hobbyist, and where it is expected to work right out of the box and presumably in somewhat harsh environments.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    13. Re:Another proprietary interface by tepples · · Score: 1

      What application would pick this over a Raspberry Pi that's likely to be less than 1/4 the cost?

      One whose publisher refuses to rewrite it for an API other than Win32 or recompile it for ARM.

    14. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do scientific computing. Yes, RAM and storage are good things for me. It would be nice to take my entire work volume home and work in the evenings without ever exposing my computer or data to the network. And that is doable. But having it pocketable still seems like a dream.

      You should not have been a D!CK to start a thread slamming a product without supplying your own needs and requirements to backup your reasons to slam the product. But had you stated your needs and requirements when you wrote your slam, then we all would have known in advance that you were simply being a B!CK for the sake of being a D!CK ... and you would have then likely been either ignored or marked as a "troll".

      By the way, have a nice day.

    15. Re:Another proprietary interface by green1 · · Score: 1

      If this is for embedded applications, it's probably already on Linux anyway, not Windows, and even if it isn't, the cost to rewrite will be made up quickly on the cost difference.

    16. Re:Another proprietary interface by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If battery life is your thing, get a ZenPhone. Lasts for most of a week.

  3. i've got a pc in my pocket by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    rock it.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0WeIOxZdnw .. cease fire stand down,, thanks again

  4. Major growth here if US bans laptops on planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I can envision serious growth for this type of thing if the US bans all laptops on planes. Take one of these & a USB stick with your OS, Apps & data on it. Than on a plane or anywhere really, just plug this in with the USB data stick & you should have your 'OS, Apps & data' for immediate use.

    Of course a person might be concerned with the security of the device you have to plug in to but I don't see that being much different than using someone else's network today. It still starts with having a 'trusted Intel core' (assuming they don't build in backdors to this thing for the 3-letter acronym agencies).

    1. Re:Major growth here if US bans laptops on planes by jonwil · · Score: 1

      You cant trust ANY Intel processor made in the last decade not to have all kinds of backdoors and hidden code you cant look at.

    2. Re:Major growth here if US bans laptops on planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Plug it into what and where? You need a dock, a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to make it usable.

      Are you expecting airlines to provide all that during the flight? Your destination hotel?

    3. Re:Major growth here if US bans laptops on planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Downsides:

      1) Major - what do you use for a display on an airplane (not so much an issue for hotels).
      2) Minor - no keyboard/mouse (minor because it should not be a problem to find portable kbd/mouse that would be allowed on an airplane)
      3) Unknown impact - all of these devices are going to be power/thermal limited due to packaging limitations. In fact, I think that it won't matter which processor it has, as the faster processors will all quickly throttle down to the performance of the Celeron part.

    4. Re:Major growth here if US bans laptops on planes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a key point, and makes me wonder why the drive to make things so thin that having a docking station is required. Why not make the device a bit thicker, say the size of an Altoids tin, then it could have a couple of USB ports and an HDMI port directly on the device. It would still fit in your pocket but now you just plugin in the peripherals you need like a monitor, keyboard, mouse and power. It would even be able to provide an Ethernet port if desired. Power could perhaps be supplied by the monitor or through an additional connector USB port.

  5. A rose by any other name... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So it looks like a USB battery, but doesn't have that functionality? Maybe adding that will help it spread?

  6. A pocket-sized backdoor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with free AMT.

    No thanks.

    1. Re:A pocket-sized backdoor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      with free AMT.

      No thanks.

      Maybe not.

      Some stuff designed and made by Intel, or at least badged as "Intel" but could be made by an OEM, has used Realtek networking chips.

      Look carefully at the detailed specs on the very low-end Intel NUCs and you will find Realtek chips in them.

      I think Intel only uses their own networking chips in their own designs on their higher-end devices where there is more profit margin.

  7. Not quality and not enough memory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cons:
    Only 2 USB ports 2GB RAM is barely enough to run wondows 8 (or 10) smoothly Power button fell inside the case after when it was pressed for the third time.

  8. Not interested by Wowsers · · Score: 2

    I'm not interested in another "black box" you can't disassemble or look into / improve for your own needs.

    --
    Take Nobody's Word For It.
    1. Re:Not interested by Neuronwelder · · Score: 2

      Yes, and they will also be good for clackers on your on your bicycle spokes!

    2. Re:Not interested by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

      Guess you don't own a cell phone or laptop then.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    3. Re:Not interested by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You may not be, but the majority of companies have no such restriction.

    4. Re:Not interested by tepples · · Score: 1

      I get the impression from others' comments that a lot of people use desktop computers exclusively, and they get away with it because they drive instead of riding public transit. Many also carry a flip phone instead of a smartphone because a flip phone has less potential for privacy leaks.

  9. It's not Dell, HP which need to do something here by klingens · · Score: 2

    It's Microsoft. This ComputeCard itself is just a typical Intel Techdemo: mostly useless and overpriced.
    The real job is for Microsoft alone: it's possible to build a Windows Phone which is a Windows Phone when mobile and an actual real, 100% Wintel
      Desktop PC with Office, Active Directory, legacy programs from the 90s, etc. when in a dock. Of course they have to kick useless bullshit like "windows store only" concepts to the curb. This is tech which would allow Microsoft to build a real Surfacephone with Hyper-V: one VM has the Phone with Windows Mobile, the other VM has a real Windows 10 when you are docked and have a real 27" Display and a mouse.

    As always, the Microsoft executives and CEO are too stupid when an opportunity is handed on a silver platter.

  10. R-Pi v3 is a pocket computer already for $40. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    R-Pi v3 is a pocket computer already for $40.
    It isn't a desktop replacement. It is a portable computer.

    Bet Intel won't be selling for $300. It will be more, just like their NUCS stuff - charging $150 more than it should for what you'd get in a mini-computer like a Shuttle system.

    If your OS needs more disk/RAM than these Intel products provide, perhaps you need a different OS?

  11. Does it come with a proprietary firmware blob? by Cyberpunk+Reality · · Score: 1

    I mean, it's not a real PC without that.

    --
    Rule 35 of the internet: "If it can be hacked, it will be". - Charles Stross
  12. The PC Appliance by WheezyJoe · · Score: 4, Informative

    I am personally not excited.

    Me neither. The Stick is much more like your own personal pocket-carried PC, as at least it comes with an HDMI plug and a power supply. This thing doesn't appear to be able even to power up without help from a dock or some new wave of appliance, which appers to be what Intel's after.

    Seems like insane overkill to slap in whole PC's just for kiosks, window signage, grocery-store displays, door-openers and soap-dispensers, but if Intel keeps making PC's smaller then I guess that's where we're headed. It's just sick to think this might mean a complete copy of copy of Windows 10 on damn near everything because... it can. Perhaps Red Hat can package and market a Linux for tiny business PC's, packaged with signage or kiosk application software, and break this potential Microsoft stranglehold, please?

    --
    Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
    1. Re:The PC Appliance by Mkkby · · Score: 1

      A raspberry pi is a better fit for apps like this. For some reason, intel can only think in terms of windows. Windows is huge overhead and security leak, and should only be used if a critical app requires it. The world is turning to android/linux and arm processors. Intel is looking desperately for relevancy.

    2. Re:The PC Appliance by Hadlock · · Score: 2

      It's a lot easier for developers to throw together a web app that runs in full screen touch mode than finding someone who does systems level C stuff. A compute stick is $99 and has access to the full modern build chain of everything. A raspberry Pi is $40 but needs $60 worth of accessories and is still under-powered at the end of the day. Better to just go with what's easiest. $5 here or $20 there savings for a platform you're paying a developer between $50 and $200 an hour to work on just isn't worth it.
       
      Back in the mid 2000s I worked for a high end art house movie theater, they had a desktop PC hooked up to a pair of 60" plasma HDTVs (this was a big deal back then) running a Macromedia Flash app in full screen mode, that was configured using a text file in notepad and some JPEGs we made ourselves. I can't imagine what some fancy custom thing would have cost back then. Way more than the $400 PC sitting in a dusty cupboard.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    3. Re:The PC Appliance by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      but if Intel keeps making PC's smaller then I guess that's where we're headed

      Fortunately there's an onslaught coming from the bottom up as well. While a lot of basic things (you mentioned coffee machines) are starting to ship with full on ARM SOCs running a small embedded OS because consumers want displays and touch screens, a few of the microcontroller manufacturers are starting to take note.

      Microchip just released the PIC32MZ DA with built in graphics processor to try and stop all of its sales from going to overpowered ARM chips. Unfortunately as yet they may have a pricing problem with these new ones. It's quite telling when you can buy a Raspberry Pi Zero for $2 less than just this microcontroller.

  13. Re:It's not Dell, HP which need to do something he by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like the way you are thinking, but once you add a battery and a screen to this I doubt it is going to be a reasonably sized phone with a reasonable battery life. It only works because it is offloading the power supply/battery to whatever it docks into. Minimum size for a decent dock is likely going to be tablet form factor for now.

  14. Upgradeable TVs by Damian+Hole · · Score: 2

    I'd be excited if this took off in TVs. Imagine a world where you could upgrade your TV's CPU every year or two, and install an upgraded OS. Or even have custom OSes in your TV, just like the Pi has now.

    1. Re:Upgradeable TVs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not excited. There isn't any room for performance upgrades (except perhaps more memory) due to power and thermal limits. They have already maxed out what can be put in the package, unless they come up with radically better semiconductor processes (i.e. much better MIPS/W numbers).

  15. I'll stick with Raspberry by TheOuterLinux · · Score: 1

    My Pi tastes better.

  16. Utterly redundant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What? A low-end card (Celeron) with redundant networking (Bluetooth, which most PCs already support).
    My desktop and laptop are far more powerful/capable than this flatulous bean curd.
    Intel appears to be out of leadership content, (AMD Ryzen parts) so is resorting to spamming the world with news about their "new" junk content to dilute AMD product. Sad.

  17. I wonder what would happen by PJ6 · · Score: 1

    if they added a touchscreen! Oh wait...

  18. You Can Already Do That by n329619 · · Score: 2

    For Windows - Search for "Windows to go" and get Windows Enterprise 8/8.1/10 along with a high speed usb device / hard drive. Just plug in and boot up, all your portable programs will be on it.

    For Mac - Search "Installing OS X on an external volume" and get a high speed usb device / hard drive. This only works on mac device but select usb device and it will boot up with all your programs.

    For Linux - Search for "linux usb persistent" and create a usb for that.

    1. Re:You Can Already Do That by tepples · · Score: 1

      For Windows - Search for "Windows to go" and get Windows Enterprise 8/8.1/10 along with a high speed usb device / hard drive.

      But then how does an individual lawfully acquire a copy of Windows Enterprise?

      This only works on mac device

      In other words, it's probably more practical to just carry a Mac mini.

  19. Just a copy of EOMA68 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Intel only announced these after EOMA68 went public.

  20. Put computer card slots into monitors/laptops/TV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If Intel can convince TV, monitor and laptop makers to put computer card slots in, then your really could effortlessly move your computer around to existing hardware. Maybe that's what this is really about. It's the only way I can see this being useful.

  21. Well... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 1

    We were just talking about similar ideas few days ago...

    But without a battery to power it and depending on a huge dock to have functional ports, I'm not sure about how useful something like that really is.
    Lots of people including me talked about Kangaroo PC, but the same brand already has a product like the one on the post - Kangaroo Notebook:

    http://www.kangaroo.cc/kangaro...

    Oddly similar to Intel's version.

  22. why intel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Intel is like the F1-racing team that goes to every race on 25$ per piece tires.

    i mean... WTF ? Marketing liars build the fastest of everything only to castrate it wherever they can. Fine in statistics and numbers, not so fine in everyday usage.

    The engine can do 200 Mph, only the tires burst when going over 60 Mph....yep, that's intel allright.

  23. kek, slashvertisement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "ultra-efficient celeron" ahahahah *wipes tears* ahahahah.

  24. Re:It's not Dell, HP which need to do something he by swb · · Score: 1

    I think it's about the licensing revenue for MS. A dockable phone that becomes a PC means that some non-trivial number of people who buy phones would stop buying PCs with Windows, costing MS a Windows license sale and shrinking the installed base.

    The problem is, if they don't do it someone else will, and they may not even get the phone sale let alone another desktop license.

  25. I HAVE ONE OF THESE! AN SSD! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously, this isn't much different from an SSD and a 'standardised' desktop for it to dock in to

    Solving a problem that isn't there. Well done Intel.

  26. EOMA68 is better- a real open standard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The problem with Intel/AMD is they're locking you into their tech. EOMA68 is a lot better in that it isn't. There is a 2GB dual-core card coming soon and 4GB one that should be available shortly thereafter. EOMA68 got to the punch first and Intel's just reacting now. There is already a EOMA68 laptop design and a desktop and a router design is in the works. ThinkPenguin's been funding this project for years now. It's no surprise Intel's several months behind and only announced this gimmick now. Previously Intel wouldn't do a modular computer because they felt it would undermine their margins. Which is true. But now that EOMA68 exists they're under pressure to kill it and modular computing in general- and certainly because unlike Intel's cards it's open and your not stuck on Intel/AMD/X86. EOMA68 tech is designed to be open and doesn't ship with backdoors. You can design your own EOMA68 cards and computers and they'll be compatible with any EOMA68 device.