Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Intel’s Compute Stick will soon come with Windows 10 pre-installed

Add as a preferred source on Google

The Intel Compute Stick, one of the better received and more popular stick PCs on the market, currently ships with Windows 8.1 installed out of the box. Like all PCs with a legitimate copy of Windows, it’s eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10, but for users afraid of doing the upgrade themselves, it appears that the Intel is set to start shipping the sticks with Windows 10 installed.

Listings for the new stick, which already has a slight change to its model number, now reading BOXSTCK1A32WFCL, are appearing on various online retailers with a price point of around $150, which is the same price as the original. That L at the end of the model number and Windows 10 being installed seem to be only difference between the new model and the old one, but that could of course change once Intel officially announces something.

Recommended Videos

The hardware, which should be the same when the Windows 10-toting stick hits the market, features 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and an Intel Atom Z3735F Bay Trail quad-core processor. Presumably, Windows 10 should run just as well as, if not better than Windows 8.1 on lower-end devices like this one, and users have already been upgrading on their own with no particular reports of problems.

Other notable specs of the Intel Compute stick include 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a micro USB port, a USB 2.0 port, HDMI, and a microSD slot for expanding the storage.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any information for when the slightly upgraded version of Intel’s stick PC will hit the market. In the mean time, for those who already have an Intel Compute Stick and are reluctant to get Windows 10, check out some of the best reasons why you should upgrade.

Dave LeClair
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dave LeClair has been writing about tech and gaming since 2007. He's covered events, hosted podcasts, created videos, and…
Acer’s Swift Air 14 is a peppy MacBook Neo rival with some cool upgrades and a $699 ask
Computer, Electronics, Laptop

The race to build the next great affordable laptop is heating up, and Acer thinks it has a strong contender. The company today unveiled the Swift Air 14, a thin-and-light Windows laptop that combines a premium design, AI-ready hardware, and impressive battery claims for a starting price of just $699.

At a time when even mainstream laptops are creeping toward four-figure price tags, Acer’s latest machine feels refreshingly straightforward. It’s aimed at students, remote workers, and anyone who wants a laptop that looks and feels expensive without draining their bank account. The Swift Air 14 is powered by Intel’s new Core Series 3 processors and delivers up to 19 hours of battery life. That’s the sort of endurance that could realistically get many users through a full workday and beyond without scrambling for a charger.

Read more
Google Drive can now batch-scan your documents and spare you a few other frustrations, too
The automated scanning experience runs entirely on your device, without sending anything to Google’s servers.
Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone

Scanning documents from a phone has always been a frustrating experience, especially on Android smartphones. You’ve to scan one page at a time, blurry captures you don't notice until after, or accidentally hovering over the same page twice; all these issues bother users on a day-to-day basis. 

Well, Google Drive's new document scanner redesign fixes all three problems at once. Announced by Sameer Samat, the President of Android Ecosystem at Google, the feature is now rolling out for Android users.

Read more
Microsoft wants Copilot to answer all your health-related questions and store your medical records
Copilot Health is Microsoft's most personal AI feature yet. It is built with 250 physicians, and explicitly designed not to replace your doctor.
Page, Text, Business Card

Copilot Health is now in preview, and Microsoft’s ambition for it is clear, an AI assistant that knows your health history, understands your fitness data, and can help you make sense of your medical records, all in one place. 

Copilot Health is a dedicated space within the Copilot chatbot at copilot.microsoft.com/health where you can get answers to your health-related questions. 

Read more