I’m a big fan of Shadow, the service that effectively lets you rent a gaming PC and stream it over the internet. It means you can play all the latest PC games at a decent quality without having to shell out a grand or so on a gaming PC.
Shadow runs from practically any device you can think of – you don’t need a powerful PC at the receiving end, because all the grunt work is done on your rented virtual PC in a data centre in Paris. Any old laptop, tablet or even a smartphone can run Shadow.
But if you want a low-power elegant device that you can plug into your TV or monitor, then you can also run your Shadow installation from the newly launched Shadow Ghost.
Shadow Ghost specs
This isn’t the first stab Shadow has had at dedicated hardware. The company had previously launched the Shadow Box, but the Ghost is an upgrade in almost every respect.
The design is much more attractive, as I can vouch having seen it in the flesh this week. There’s no distracting fan anymore, and the connectivity of this Linux-based device has been upgraded too.
The Shadow Ghost has two USB 3 ports and two USB 2 ports for keyboards and mice, and a jack in/out for your headphones/mic. It also has an HDMI 2 output to plug into a TV or monitor and can output 4K UHD video at 60 frames per second or 144 frames per second in Full HD.
It has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi built in, so the only cords you might need are the HDMI cable and the power cord.
Talking of power, Shadow claims the Ghost will consume “30 times less energy than an equivalent local PC”. I’m not quite sure what they would consider an “equivalent PC”, but there’s no doubt this tiny device will swallow a fraction of the energy of a conventional gaming PC with dedicated graphics and whooshing fans.
Shadow hasn’t released a price for the Ghost yet, which is due to be launched in early 2019, but I’d guess around the £100 mark. You can sign up for the waiting list here.
Now read this: Is Shadow Hive the next big gaming network?
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