$74 PC on a USB Stick Sold Out (for Now)

The key-sized, wi-fi-enabled device has a 1.5-GHz processor and is made to work as a stand-alone computer, but it needs a power source

By Avram Piltch & LAPTOP

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Users pinning away for tiny computers like the FXI Cotton Candy or Raspberry Pi have another option, albeit one that is now also hard to come by. Last week a Chinese retailer called Aliexpress began selling a $74 USB key-sized computer with an AllWinner A10 1.5-GHz CPU, 802.11g Wi-Fi, HDMI-out, both micro USB and full USB 2.0 ports, 512MB of RAM, 4G of Flash memory which is expandable up 32GB via a microSD card slot and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Unfortunately, the .44-pounds device, which is listed as a Rikomagic brand, is now listed as sold out, though Aliexpress says a new batch will be released sometime close to June 10th.

Though the Rikomagic device appears to be similar to the long-awaited FXI Cotton Candy, it has a few key disadvantages. First, the Cotton Candy can launch a virtual desktop when plugged into any PC or Mac while the Rikomagic device is only made to work as a standalone computer, something the Cotton Candy can also do. The Cotton Candy is powered directly over USB while the Rikomagic appears to require a separate power plug.

The Cotton Candy has a male HDMI-out port that can go directly into any TV while the Rikomagic has a female port that requires a wire. The Cotton Candy has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth while its competitor has only Wi-Fi. There's ¬†no word on whether the Rikomagic product will support Ubuntu Linux like Cotton Candy does and we can't say whether the 1.5-GHz AllWinner CPU will be as fast as the dual-core Exynos processor in the Cotton Candy.

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Still, the prospect of buying a $74 computer for your pocket is pretty intriguing. We hope to get our hands 0n this product in the near future. If you want one, you can either wait to buy it from Aliexpress or try other sites like the Chinese retailer Alibaba. However, we can't vouch for the customer service or reliability of any of these sellers.

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