It’s been nearly 10 years now since Marvell showcased a computer-in-a-plug called the Sheevaplug; now, hailing from Hong Kong, comes the iLife MP8 Micro PC (via Notebook Italia).

This isn't quite a whole PC packed into a three-pin power plug, but we can easily envision that happening soon. At about 50 x 50 x 40mm, it's small enough to be plugged in and forgotten.

You could use a Wireless HDMI dongle and a wireless keyboard/mouse combo to have a completely untethered experience, making it great as a thin client

Lilliputian

Despite its size, the iLife MP8 Micro PC is actually decently configured. It's powered by an Intel Celeron N4100, which is about as fast a five-year old Core i5 CPU, with 4GB memory and 64GB eMMC storage.

Expansion and connectivity options include a microSD card slot, a full size HDMI port, two USB 3.1 ports, an audio connector and a USB Type-C port that's used to provide power. Price and availability have yet to be disclosed, but we expect these to crop up online on the likes of Gearbest.

Those who have been following this market will remember the Quanta Compute Plug, which was championed by Microsoft a few years back but never really gathered steam. There was also the Android-based Sunvell T95P which actually plugged into a two-pin socket. Proof, perhaps, that this can be done.