Is the Intel hdmi stick/Meegopad t01 the Mac mini killer?

[Zellio]

Some people have said that the lower power cpus in the mac mini is okay (because consumers are supposedly only interested in Facebook and blah blah)... Well these things have a quad core atom processor which matches up very closely to the 1.4 ghz $399 Mac Mini, and they have 32 gb ssd and 2 gb ram for $150 (The meegopad can be had for around $100 but it doesn't include a real version of windows... You'll need your own license).

Both the meegopad and the compute stick are identical.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

With the same Iris graphics as the mac mini, it can play games well too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmcAKc-yB5c

 

[giggles]

Next fall Skylake quad core Mini with Thunderbolt3 USB3.1 Hdmi2.0 h265-hw_decoding will run circles around those TV-enhancer thingies.

Not to mention Gigabit ethernet, TB-to-Firewire800, OSX (plus free updates) and the best touchpad experience, and so on.

When it all started, the mini was "too little".

Now, apparently it's "too much, too fat".

We could just agree a Mini is a Mini.

But I do agree the market is exploding with fanless "light office work" options, thanks to the latest intel platforms and Microsoft "windows 8 for free to OEMs" initiative. 200$ buy you the ultimate "mom's PC" nowadays.

 

[deconstruct60]

Some people have said that the lower power cpus in the mac mini is okay (because consumers are supposedly only interested in Facebook and blah blah)... Well these things have a quad core atom processor which matches up very closely to the 1.4 ghz $399 Mac Mini,

The Atom Z3735 doesn't match up closely with the i5 4260U

http://ark.intel.com/products/80274

1.33-1.83 GHz ---> Clock range. 0.5 GHz
5 EU gpu
(Bay trail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvermont#Tablet_processors_.28Bay_Trail-T.29 )
GPU clock 0.311-0.656 GHz ---> Clock range ~340 Mhz

Max memory 2GB

No PCI-e lanes ( for stuff like Thunderbolt )

No quick sync video , no multiple independent displays , no AES instructions , etc etc.



http://ark.intel.com/products/75030

1.4-2.7 GHz ---> Clock range 1.3 GHz

HD5000 has 40 EU (execution units )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_HD_and_Iris_Graphics#Haswell


GPU clock 0.200 - 1.0 GHz ---> Clock range 800 Mhz


Max Memory 16GB.

12 PCI-e lanes.

With the same Iris graphics as the mac mini, it can play games well too:

Iris graphics means have more than just a measly 4 EUs in the HD series GPU. Even the Haswell GT1 has 10 units. That Atom has less than half that.

 

[paulrbeers]

Some people have said that the lower power cpus in the mac mini is okay (because consumers are supposedly only interested in Facebook and blah blah)... Well these things have a quad core atom processor which matches up very closely to the 1.4 ghz $399 Mac Mini, and they have 32 gb ssd and 2 gb ram for $150 (The meegopad can be had for around $100 but it doesn't include a real version of windows... You'll need your own license).

Both the meegopad and the compute stick are identical.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

With the same Iris graphics as the mac mini, it can play games well too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmcAKc-yB5c

While I think the Intel Stick is interesting (actually kind of neat)...

Do not fool yourself into thinking that an Atom processor (even the new ones) are any thing like an Core i5. And do not fool yourself into thinking Intel HD graphics are anything like even the HD5000 or Iris.... Can they do basic tasks? Absolutely. Can they play back video? Sure. Can you game? Circa 2001 sure.

Again, I think the Intel stick is pretty cool, but it does not compare to any "real" desktop for power.

 

[Gjwilly]

Is the Intel hdmi stick/Meegopad t01 the Mac mini killer?

No.

(well that was easy)

 

[Mcdevidr]

It might be the killer for the 2016 Mac mini which will be arm based with 2GB ram and 16gb SSD.

 

[deconstruct60]

It might be the killer for the 2016 Mac mini which will be arm based with 2GB ram and 16gb SSD.

By 2016 (well perhaps the end of 2016 ), some of the upper end "Atom" processors will be in striking distance of the Core i3 and low end Core i5 of 2012-2014. Probably too heavyweight for this HDMI dongle form factor. It is unlikely that the Mac Micro ( even smaller than Mini ) will require a shift to ARM just to run a 2GB / 16GB SSD device at all to hit this same form factor.

This isn't so much a "Mac Mini killer" system but perhaps indicative of a possibility of a new "Mac Micro" enabler in the future. In 2017, if Apple could stuff a 2016-2017 Atom, 4GB and 128GB SSD into same form factor... it would be a "good enough to do very basic stuff" system for folks whose budget couldn't reach the Mac Mini entry price point. Priced $299-399, Apple probably wouldn't get a fair number of folks to buy one. Over time though the performance and capacities will get filled in to make it viable for folks whose needed workload "horsepower" has gone flat.