CompuLab launches Utilite2: Tiny ARM-based Ubuntu/Android PC

1. When a arm pc with 128-256 gb? Or intel mini pc or tablet with 128-256 gb? 32 gb is a sh#t

2. tcha … android, he. since google’s latest move to limit sd or external data carrier access to almost nil (trying to force users to its cloud) this has become an absolute no go. so one will be stuck to ubuntu.

3. Ive been seeing more of these but the crucial thing missing is being able to install and reinstall different operating systems easily like you can with x86 ,then they would be perfect….

4. Too bad the aesthetics was downgraded. The previous model looked better.

5. That is the ugliest box ever.

6. When we finally have $99 windows tablets and laptops, which are extremely energy efficient and do support hdmi out, I hardly see any market for this market segment anymore. There is still plenty of room for HTPC harboring relatively powerful CPUs and a large number of ports at an affordable price, but if the whole aim is to the general casual / light desktop use with htpc capabilies, a $99 8 inch Win8 tablet or $99-$199 Atom based laptop is more than sufficient. Asus X205TA can run a 1080p video with 10% CPU utilization and is also able to flawlessly run Windows XP and Windows 7 inside virtualbox with decent speed.

   1. When? 😀

   2. Once the Microsoft and Intel subsisdies dry up you can kiss those $99 Wintel prices goodbye. They aren’t sustainable and probably face court challenges as predatory practices.

      1. What predatory practices ? Intel’s cheapest SoC is 10 times the price of the cheapest ARM offering, and Microsoft is giving Windows for little to no money as opposed to Google who has made ANDROID available for free since the first days. The only way it could ever be illegal, is if Microsoft with/or Intel, set preferential pricing, conditioned by unfavorable participatory circumstances by device manufacturers against Microsoft-Intel competitors. But as you can very well see, ANDROID-ARM devices are springing plentifully, from all $99 Chinese Windows tablet manufacturers, there is no “under the table” snuff deal. The only Microsoft-Intel strategy, is pricing exceptional and unprecedented functionality, at same or under ANDROID toy prices. Microsoft is now pivoting from a license to user model, to a access to platform model, like ANDROID. They plan on making their money from the App developers, not the users. Intel on the other hand, needs to be in the mobile market, where people trow away devices every year-6 months and not in the dying desktop market where they sell you once every 4-6 years.

   3. Those are not real prices so you shouldnt compare to them. Once Intel stops SOC subsidies and MS starts charging for Win licenses again they will cost twice the current price.

      1. Why shouldn’t we compare them? We are consumers, and the lowest price wins. I don’t care why the price is low.

         1. the reason they are priced low is not just the current subsidies, all these
            Atom™ Processor Z3735E and the other intel Z versions (even the odd real quad core versions) do NOT have any current SIMD AVX2 to compete with all the current cortex NEON SIMD ARM SOCs available now, and these intel soc fail again as they do NOT have the generic hardware assisted Intel® Quick Sync Video capabilities and code to support HW Encoding/decoding video capabilities…. pretty important for a consumer product today.

            put simply , i could not in good continence advocate anyone buy one of these countless (dual/quad core) atom Z soc devices on the market at $99 or more today….

            1. haha good “continence”?

      2. If/when the prices go up then I’ll do something about it then (ie. give ARM devices a try again). Right now, I’ll go with what gives me more bang for my buck.

      3. I’m not sure you will see them go away in practice. Intel is dumping to gain market share and can’t afford to indefinitely. However their competition isn’t getting better but only worse. Then again, so will Intel’s own hardware get better. Probably what we’ll see is a plateau in hardware performance for a period and Intel will be able to continue providing competitive chips but at costs they can afford to sustain.
         Microsoft is in a similar position with Windows. Their chief concerns are ChromeOS and Android, of course. But again, it’s not like they will be less capable competitors in a year. No, they’ll in fact be better. MS will eventually either have to give up the desktop software as part of its market or change the structure of its business so giving away that software is part of their approach. At least in the consumer space. Or if they do charge it will have to be incredibly minimal. If they can steal away a good chunk of market share they’ll be better positioned perhaps. But they won’t be safe again for a while as long as Google is active in that space and giving away the software.
         Many would argue that Android nor ChromeOS are the equal of Windows. It doesn’t matter. It just matters if they are good enough for enough people. And they are.

         1. * Intel’s competition is getting better, not worse. LOL.

7. It can run Ubuntu wich is very good.

   But they should consider adding 16 GB of built-in storage.
   Storage memory is cheap these days.

8. I am not wild about ARM for PCs, but otherwise this is a very capable little machine, case-as-heatsink is a good design. If the price is right, it could be pretty useful.

   1. I agree. I like the ARM boards and devices for specific tasks, but with devices with Intel or AMD SoCs, like the LIVA, which can run Windows or Ubuntu, or really any x86 Linux distro that supports the devices, UEFI, I’ve lost interest in most of the ARM devices, aside from maybe the next Rasberry Pi, I won’t buy any more ARM devices unless it’s purchased for a specific need.

   2. Same. I was excited about small fanless Linux PCs running on ARM at first. However, ARM and non-maintained closed proprietary drivers are all too common. Even for those who are capable of compiling custom configurations of the Linux kernel can’t get very far and must rely on precompiled OS’s or kernels from the OEM.

      In the end, ARM based Linux PCs get stuck on older Linux kernels due to proprietary binaries not being updated for newer kernel compatibily. Then any sort of software updates eventually stop and you’re stuck with a potentially insecure PC with no realistic way to update it yourself. This may be fine for those who throw away their devices every couple of years but not for me.

      I was hoping ARM vendors would get on the open source bandwagon faster or at least provide long term support for their closed source software (ie. NVIDIA with their closed yet still well maintained GPU drivers). However, that hasn’t happened or is too slow where Intel or even AMD may catch up in this space. Intel’s getting pretty close.

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