By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
PC hardware and operating systems have gotten so lean now and cloud computing has become so powerful that we will soon have entire PCs the size of a thumbdrive. With the ability to turn any display into a basic yet Internet connected PC, devices like ASUS Chromebit (above) and the upcoming Intel Compute Stick are squaring off in a race to put Chrome and Windows on as many non-PC devices as possible.
The ASUS Chromebit will retail for around US $100 and runs Chrome OS on any display with an HDMI port. Same with the larger Intel Compute Stick which will bring Windows to TVs and displays. Google and Microsoft are already duking it out in the low-end notebook and tablet market. Chromebooks may have dominated this segment for a few years and, as a result, have made serious inroads into the education market. But Microsoft is now offering various notebooks through its OEMs that run Office 365 apps with Windows 8.1 with Bing, which is a basic and non upgradeable version of Windows.