Intel’s new Compute Stick with a Core M Skylake processor isn’t the company’s only new PC on a stick for 2016. The company has also unveiled two new models featuring lower-power (and cheaper) Atom x5-Z8300 Cherry Trail chips.

The Intel Compute Stick STK1AW32SC and STK1A32C should be available in the first quarter of 2016.

compute stick cherry

Both models feature 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage. The difference is that thw STKAW32SC comes with Windows 10, while the STK1A32SC ships without an operating system.

While the Cherry Trail processor won’t offer much better CPU performance than the Bay Trail chips used in last year’s model, graphics performance should be significantly better, and it’s not just the processor that’s been upgraded.

The new Cherry Trail Compute Stick also features dual-band 802.11ac WiFi, and two USB ports: one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0.

The PC stick has supports Blueooth 4.0 and has a micro SDXC v3.0 port with support for up to 128GB of removable storage, and an HDMI 1.4b connector. It measures about 4.4″ x 1.5″ x 0.5″ which makes it a tiny bit smaller than the Core M model.

Intel says a model with an Atom Cherry Trail processor and Windows 10 software will be available in the first quarter of 2016 for $159, which is about $10 more than the initial price for the original Intel Compute Stick with a Bay Trail processor.

Since the Cherry Trail Compute Stick wasn’t on the leaked product roadmap we saw last year, I wasn’t expecting Intel to launch this model. But I was pleasantly surprised when Ian Morrison pointed it out to me this morning!

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