The stick PC was first introduced in 2003. The
Gumstix, which came out that same year, used the
ARM architecture system on a chip (SoC) and the
Linux 2.6
kernel.
Windows CE can be installed on this stick. It was based on the idea of making a PC similar in size to that of an average
stick of chewing gum. As the popularity of smart TVs and set-top boxes to view streaming services (such as the
Roku) grew, companies started looking at making these small computers even smaller and easier to use. Several stick PCs using ARM architecture SoCs were introduced around 2012, made of sticks pluggable in an
HDMI port, including the
Android Mini PC MK802 series from Rikomagic, using
Android or
Linux distributions, both based on Linux and
Allwinner Technology or
Rockchip SoC and
Cotton Candy, using
Samsung Exynos SoC. 2013-2014 saw several manufacturers come out with stick PCs. MeeGoPad released the first x86 based stick PC, featuring the Intel Atom Z3735F Processor. In April 2013,
Tronsmart released the MK908, using the Rockchip RK3188 (featuring the quad-core
ARM Cortex-A9 and ARM Mali-400MP GPU). On July 24, 2013, Google introduced the
Google Chromecast, a streaming device similar in function and design to a stick PC. On November 19, 2014, Amazon released a smaller version of the
Amazon Fire TV called the Fire TV Stick. In March 2015, ASUS and Google introduced the
Chromebit, a stick PC based on the
Rockchip RK3288 SoC and running Google's
ChromeOS. In 2016, Intel introduced the
Intel Compute Stick. It was discontinued in June 2020. == Neural compute sticks ==