Windows on a stick: the Hannspree Micro PC review

[Administrator]

It's the giveaway of a lifetime. Microsoft is handing over free copies of its Windows 8.1 operating system - with gratis upgrades to Windows 10, no less - while Intel is heavily subsidising its Atom range of processors in order to shift them in bulk. Lacking momentum compared to Android and iOS, Wintel wants its products to become a staple component of your mobile life, and they're willing to pay for the privilege. We've already examined the sub-£100/$120 Windows tablet phenomenon, zeroing in on the remarkable Linx 8 tablet, but Wintel's generosity has kickstarted a new wave of fascinating miniature x86 devices, kicking off with the Hannspree Micro PC.
This is just the beginning - many more variations on the theme are set to arrive imminently. Indeed, Intel itself has its own Compute Stick, unveiled last month at CES. The concept is identical to the Micro PC - it's a complete computer you can hold in the palm of your hand, a small black stick of x86 fun that inserts directly into an HDMI monitor or HDTV. Once a micro USB power supply is attached, what you get is the most comprehensively flexible Smart TV extender on the market, running the full Windows 8.1 operating system - and with it access to the most advanced media playback apps available, the Windows Store, and of course, decades' worth of legacy apps, including your Steam library.
Specs for the Micro PC will be very familiar to those who read our recent Linx 8 review - we're looking at a quad-core 1.83GHz Intel Atom CPU, paired up with a GPU component that's almost literally a quarter-sized version of the Intel integrated graphics tech in the Core 'Ivy Bridge' processor. That's paired up with 2GB of low-voltage DDR3, and 32GB of Samsung eMMC NAND, without around 24GB left for the user to do with as they will. There are differences with the Linx 8 spec though, specifically the use of the Z3735F Atom chip, which has around half the bandwidth of the otherwise identical Z3735G in the tablet (the 'F' variant is used in most of the 7-inch Windows slates though).
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