Over the past few months we’ve seen a wave of tiny computers featuring Intel Atom processors, Windows 8.1 software, and designs that look like chunky USB flash drives. Worried that devices like the Intel Compute Stick or MeegoPad T01 will overheat in those tiny, fanless cases?

Japan’s Mouse Computer has a solution. The company has developed a PC-on-a-stick that has a tiny fan inside the case

mouse computer stick

The Mouse Computer m-Stick will be available by the end of April for ¥ 20,800, or about $175 including tax and shipping.

The little computer features an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core Bay Trail processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of eMMC storage, and Windows 8.1 with Bing 32-bit software.

It has a microSD card slot, a USB 2.0 port, and an HDMI connector as well as a micro USB port for power. The device supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0.

There’s a growing number of devices with nearly identical specs, but this is one of the first I’ve seen to feature a spinning fan. That’ll probably make it a bit noisier than the competition, but it should also run at a cooler temperature.

The m-Stick measures 4.9″ x 1.5″ x 0.6″ and weighs about 2 ounces.

mouse stick

via Notebook Italia and Ascii.jp

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14 replies on “Mouse Computer launches Windows PC Stick with built-in fan”

  1. Ugh. The whole point of these things (well, at least one main point AFAIK) is that they are (or at least should be) silent. Tiny little fans usually are not silent.

    While back I heard a news story about a cooling technology that used some sort of miniature bellows or something like that. The application was going to be small devices such as smart phones. Maybe that would be better for these sticks.

  2. OK, so why is it I can buy a tablet with these same specs that actually has a touchscreen for only $100, but all of these sticks cost so much more???? Where is a cheap windows box???

    1. Same specs in smaller box using smaller components = higher price. EVERYTHING has always followed that process. It costs more to engineer the same specs in such a small package. Also, show me a touchscreen laptop with these specs that isnt a huge POS.

  3. If one of these would comes out with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage (while keeping the microSD slot for expansion) along with a more up to date CPU (Cherry trail?) for ~$200 or less, I would get one for every household in my extended family.

    1. wait till 2016 when the new SSD tech is out, they could make a device this size with a couple terabytes of SSD storage and it would still not cost a ton.

  4. On one hand, the Meegopad has some thermal throttling issues, so it’s logical. On the other I’m not a big fan of active cooling (*wink*) so I’d definitely skip this one. The ideal option would be an aluminium case with passive cooling. Maybe I’ll cut out a part of an old P4 heatsink and put the guts of my Meegopad inside that…

  5. Not sure why these are all housed in plastic. I would think one of the larger sides should be a heat sink. Let the enclosure help dissapate heat instead of holding in the heat.

  6. At CES Intel told digitaltrends that the compute stick (i.e. quanta HS1) had a fan too

    1. Yeah, there’s certainly a vent on the Compute Stick, but since Intel isn’t really showing it off in person yet, I haven’t been certain.

  7. I assume the fan is so you can overclock, but is it even worth it? Or even possible to Overclock?

    1. Or just to keep the temp down and protect the internal components a bit more?

      1. Or to allow for “Turbo” or boost or whatever it’s called to function for a longer time (do these atoms have that?)

    2. Even with some of the bigger boxes using these processors (Pipo X7) – thermal throttling causes problems just playing video in certain codec’s. You can google “Pipo X7 thermal throttling” for more info I believe. The smaller stick PC’s should have even worse issues, which is why I haven’t seriously considered getting one. I’m happy about the fan, but it looks like they’re going to charge a premium.

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