Windows has been running on ARM since version 8 (the ARM-specific version was called Windows RT). Since then, Microsoft announced a “special” version of Windows that's intended for the new Raspberry Pi 2.
Actually, according to CNET, there's a Linux version of the Intel stick that costs only $89, plus, Intel's has a micro SD card slot, although it lacks the 802.11ac.
It seems like a good alternative to raspberry pis. We use these types of small computers to power dashboards, and frankly the Pis are a pain to set up for this purpose. I hope the Chromebit works well for just loading a website.
That's exactly why I was considering buying a raspberry pi for. Have you also considered the chromecast for this (maybe by creating a custom app/plugin for your dashboard)?
I do virtually all my work split between my home office and an actual workplace office. Currently I drag a laptop back and forth between the two, but having a monitor/keyboard/mouse at both (which I already do and dock the laptop into) and just bringing a small stick literally in my pocket that I can plug in to either place and get my full, familiar, always-up-to-date development environment is very appealing.
Obviously YMMV depending upon use case, for me a full laptop (even a small one) is overkill for what I need for a work machine, since I never really use it anyplace other than work or home and in both places I plug it into "full-sized" keyboard/mouse/monitors anyway.
Since I do Android development, ChromeOS isn't the ideal platform for this, but I suspect these sticks will run crouton like other ChromeOS devices...
For this workflow (where you already have most of a computer at two locations), wouldn't having a diskless workstation at work and home also work out, and just carry around a USB thumbdrive? That way you still have the same environment in both locations.
I've actually considered USB before in years past and discounted it because the speed of USB sticks was very bad (in the context of keeping all your files on one, compiling from one, etc).
Thinking about it again in light of your comment made me realize there very well could be USB 3.0 thumbdrives with suitable speed (based on some Googling around it looks like there are some that are quite fast, but you have to be really careful with brand/model since it appears there is a very wide spread between the performance of different USB3.0 thumbdrives). But, yeah, I suppose using a fast USB3.0 thumbdrive would be another way to achieve this sort of setup.
The fastest USB 3.0 drive I have is an msata card I had left over after I upgraded, which is mounted in an msata SSD to usb converter case. I haven't tried running my normal OS environment off it yet, but overall performance is way better than a typical USB stick, or USB hard drives.
That doesn't surprise me, because I already have a Chromecast.
And there are many other instances of small cheap computers too, but my point is this: once you've seen a little device that plugs into a TV/monitor and does stuff, you've already seen a computer, because all these things are computers nowadays. Hardware has to be seriously small and special-purpose nowadays to even consider a microcontroller. It's the age of system-on-a-chip.
I see no point in carrying around a little stick to use as a computer but not as storage. Plenty of flash-based local storage would be easy to add (with locally encrypted backups to the cloud if needed) and turn the privacy-impaired ChromeOS products into decent personal computing devices.
I wonder how much thought they put into theft prevention if this is really intended to be used in schools - the ability to just pull this out the the USB port and walk off seems entirely too tempting in a school setting.
Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11AC, USB 2.0 for accessories, 2GB of RAM and 16GB SSD