Tobwa
I liked this device. It did not like me. For the record, I just filed the RMA for mine because it seemed to be a lemon. Aside from that, Ill give you my impressions. This device is good at mono-tasking. It can handle some browsing, some paper writing, maybe even at the same time. However, the instant you try to power-user this thing it flees in terror. Or just freezes, deer-in-the-headlight style. I was prepared for this. I knew what I was getting on paper. Ive dealt with netbooks and intel graphics, cheap windows tablets and so on. However, there are a few quirks and caveats I was not prepared for. Ill list the obvious ones. At the time of this writing Windows 10 will occupy a grand 19gb section of your storage space. This leaves very little for you toy with. An SDHC card is highly recommended, if not mandatory. Again, not an issue if you are just browsing yon web, or writing that paper, or watching some youtubes. If you plan on catching up on your backlog of old PC games while using this stick, consider the following. This device, and many stick pcs it seems, are incapable of stretching a small resolution to scale in full-screen. This is regardless of your settings in the Intel HD driver suite. Go ahead and set it to full-screen scaling, it will make no difference on any display. Wing commander 3 is really cute at 320x240. You can use a window to stretch it larger, but most games will fail to accept full-screen resolution. Again, no biggy if this is your media suite. This device will get very, very hot ("On purpose!" states the bottom), so be cool with that heat. Be prepared. Dont wrap it in your thermal blankets. The power button takes a second to respond. Hold it for a touch until the light turns blue. Know how to minimize your startup programs, this device needs all the leeway you can give it. That processor chokes easily (more than I thought it would). I stated I liked this device, and its true. Theres a lot to be impressed at. The RAM is spacious for such a teeny computer, it is marvelous. The WiFi is incredibly fast, and supersedes my gaming PC in reception. That little antenna isnt just for show. It does run well if you dont rush it. Let the tabs load, dont multitask too much (the Ram says yes, the Cherry Trail says no). When you want to play classic games, and they dont face scaling issues, they run very well. I was rocking Age of Wonders 2 (windowed), Freedom Force, Wacky Wheels. And, even some slightly newer fare (Legend of Grimrock, adjust the settings, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, full spec). There is a lot to like here. Just for entiretys sake, Ill mention my computers lemony features. Hopefully you dont face these irregularities. -My device lost its SD card. I had to restart for it to find it again. This happened abruptly. -Firefox choked my PC to inoperable at one point. 100%, shadow clicks. Heat symptoms. Scary stuff. -My date and time settings were entirely uncooperative. The date and time, despite my best efforts in Services.msc, is slow. It runs behind. It jumps hours off. Something was wrong here. -The above mentioned scaling issue (no one had hitherto mentioned this) was unpleasant and unacceptable I study and make games, this does not fly. I give it three stars. It isnt polished, but it does work. The price point is lovely, and it is truly a compact Windows PC if you have a specific need for one. I need something else.
