Intel Compute Stick roadmap betrays the arrival of Windows 10 with Bing

According to a leaked Intel Compute Stick roadmap, Microsoft is coming with a version of Windows 10 with Bing. This OS will only be available for OEMs, and is intended for low-cost PCs. The roadmap also shows that new Compute Sticks with more memory will be released soon.

The name of the Windows version is in an Intel roadmap that came into the hands of Liliputing. It shows the future plans of the chip company with regard to the Compute Stick, a mini PC in the form of an HDMI dongle. The new models on the roadmap would be equipped with Windows 10 with Bing.

Last year, a version of Windows 8.1 with Bing appeared for the first time. With this version, available only to hardware manufacturers, manufacturers are required to set Microsoft’s search engine as the default within Internet Explorer, although end users can change that setting again. In return, Microsoft charges lower licensing costs, which should make the operating system suitable for low-cost PCs and tablets. Some versions of Windows 8.1 with Bing also currently offer users a free one-year subscription to Office 365; whether this also applies to Windows 10 with Bing is still unknown. It was not yet known that Microsoft would come with a “with Bing” version of Windows 10.

The roadmap also shows that Intel wants to release two new models of its Compute Stick within a year. In the fourth quarter, a model codenamed Cedar City, a stick with Intel Core M processor and Windows 10 with Bing, will arrive. This has twice as much working and storage memory as the current variant, 4GB and 64GB respectively. Support for 4k display, mhl support and wifi-ac are also new. Early next year, the Falls City 2 stick, a tiny PC with Broxton soc and 64GB of storage, will arrive. This comes in two variants: one with 2GB of RAM with Windows 10 with Bing, and one with Linux that has to make do with 1GB of ram.

The leaked Intel roadmap. Source: Liliputing.