45 ms·

Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

• alphaomegacode 6y ago
  Truly amazing how the Raspberry Pi team keeps innovating. As far as I know, they're not a billion dollar company yet they keep innovating by making better Pi's and continuously upgrading the builder/user experience. Congratulations to Upton and team!
  • kzrdude 6y ago
    They are a non-profit, aren't they?
    • alphaomegacode 6y ago
      I'm assuming they are and that makes it even more amazing I think.
  • MarcScott 6y ago
    You're right. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is an educational charity. We're funded, in the main, by the sales of Raspberry Pi hardware. That the hardware and software engineers at Raspberry Pi Trading can keep innovating and producing such amazing products, astounds me.
    • 1996 6y ago
      My 2 cents on this device: you are replicating the 1980s "computer in the keyboard". Back then, the issue was the lack of screens, so TV were used instead. For educational purposes, the same problem exist today: however, kids will not have a space HDMI screen with a micro HDMI cable. The replacement screen that most people have is different: it's a smartphone, as there are more smartphones than TVs. So a "notch" or receptacle on top on the keyboard, to secure a smartphone into place, would be helpful: the use case would be powering the 400 from the smartphone AC adapter (kids may not have a spare adapter matching the pi4 power requirements), plugging the phone into the 400 using a USB cable to keep the phone charged, use the phone as the screen - without it falling out and breaking, or hanging by a cable. Android being finicky, you may not be able to have autodetection/USB gadget mode, but a remote desktop solution would go a long way. It is not possible at the moment, given the 400 power requirements, but newer/more powerful AC adapters will eventually be more common. This leaves the notch, which you may want to consider in the next revision
    • person_of_color 6y ago
      Whats the relation between Broadcom and RPi? Isn’t Eben employed by Broadcom?
    • alphaomegacode 6y ago
      The pleasant surprise is you all make improvements to the hardware and the software that really enhance the experience. Nowadays, leading billion dollar tech companies often come out with upgrades that highlight being a few microns thinner and camera resolution without really launching actual innovative products or without enhancing the user experience. Thank you.
• zatertip 6y ago
  This is such a great idea. Plug it into a tv and you have a PC. Plug in an SSD with movies and you have a media center, no extra assembly required!
  • petre 6y ago
    Yup, FFW 38 years into the future and the Commodore 64 is reborn, only with a ~22 times lower price.
    • weinzierl 6y ago
      > [...] with a ~22 times lower price ...and roughly 1800 times the clock speed. One millions times the colors that the C64 display[1]. It even comes with User Port (in spirit)[2]. [1] Yes, the number of colors a home computer could display was a major selling point back then. My C64 only hat 16, my friends CPC had 32, including the rad "Bright White" which enabled stunning effects. Man, I envied that. [2] Exposed GPIO header is super awesome and quite similar to the C64 User Port. Even more awesome was the Commodore's Expansion Port which basically exposed its bus. It think something like this would not be practically possible with today's GHz clock speeds but still this was super awesome and allowed (and required) you to even dig deeper into the internal workings of your machine.
      • petre 6y ago
        > Exposed GPIO header is super awesome Yes but it should have probably been a female connector to prevent accidental shorts between pins. One can plug a female connector into it to use as a cap or 3d print a cap anyway.
        • Cthulhu_ 6y ago
          Yeah but then you'd have to put a father connector (?) in it to connect any existing things that use the whole connector. Better to stick with what is standard for the platform.
• newsbinator 6y ago
  This is really cool. Does it support an Asus Zenscreen USB C portable monitor? I recently started traveling with one as a second screen. Weighs less than a kilo. https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenScreen-MB16AC-Portable-Monitor/dp/B071S84ZW7 https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenScreen-MB16AC-Portable-Monito... Setting it up on my MacBook Pro required the 'DisplayLink Manager' util to be installed, but otherwise it just works and doesn't need a second power source. I wonder if that would still work with this Raspberry Pi 400.
  • Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    Eek, $236,- for a monitor for a $100 system? Hard pass. For $236 you can get a fairly decent tablet nowadays. That said, what are some affordable / basic screens for a RPI?
  • nl 6y ago
    Not sure about that, but there are lots of portable monitors that have HDMI input that should work fine; eg: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Monitor-Display-Speakers-Include/dp/B08JCGJNQ8 https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Monitor-Display-Speakers-Inc... (Not a recomendation and I haven't tried this one).
• bbayer 6y ago
  It reminds me the joyful moments while I plugged my Commodore 64 to TV set.
  • weinzierl 6y ago
    That was my very first thought too. Joyful moments indeed.
• rcarmo 6y ago
  This is an awesome idea, brings me back to my Sinclair days - grab the computer, plug it into the TV, done. Perfect for kids. Only one concern: I own one of the keyboards (they also have a US layout) and they’re not bad, but the right cursor key fails to register sometimes. So let’s hope they tweaked the build quality a bit in that regard.
• comboy 6y ago
  Fantastic. They clearly took into account vast user base not interested in electronics and tinkering and just interested in a cheap PC. SD card with system included which was a hassle for novice users. And they even kept GPIO outside for those like me. I'm so glad about Raspberry Pi popularity. There are many superior hardware platforms but having one that's really popular massively speeds up prototyping when most modules and sensors have libraries written for it, and you know you are testing them on the same hardware on which they were developed.
• regularfry 6y ago
  I'm intrigued by the "faster, cooler" comment. Anyone know what that refers to? It looks like there aren't any vents on the visible surfaces, so I'm guessing there's been a hardware rev to make thermal throttling less of a problem? If so, that might imply a pi 4 board release some time soon, which would be nice.
  • fanf2 6y ago
    The clock speed is up from 1.5GHz to 1.8GHz, and there is a heat spreader built in. https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/11/02/raspberry-pi-400-teardown/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/11/02/raspberry-pi-400-tea...
  • terramex 6y ago
    It's a new design of boad (not a Pi4 in a case) and has a large heat spreader inside, and the C0 2711 chip which has better clock gating so blocks can be turned off the save power. This means we can run at 1800 by default. It runs very cool. https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1752436#p1752436 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1752436#p...
    • regularfry 6y ago
      Just watched the teardown video from there. Man, that's a lovely design.
  • geerlingguy 6y ago
    The BCM2711 SoC inside is a newer stepping (C0 vs B0 in Pi 4 model B), and can run faster and slightly cooler than the older revision. Thus the Pi 400 has a 1.8 GHz default clock, while the Pi 4 model B has a 1.5 GHz clock. Note that I just checked my Compute Module 4, and it also has the C0 revision of the chip... so it's interesting the Pi Foundation chose to keep it at the default 1.5 GHz. It might have to do with the fact that the Pi 400 has a massive keyboard-sized heatsink attached to the SoC in the unit!
  • h3h3 6y ago
    It’s a custom pcb in keyboard format with vents at the back and huge metal heat sink/anti flex plate.
• lukifer 6y ago
  Love it. I first learned BASIC on a keyboard form-factor Atari 800 XL [0], plugged into an old B&W 12" television. I think this device will be much more approachable, and open the Pi/Linux ecosystem to many more users. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#Newer_XL_machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family#Newer_XL_ma...
  • acvny 6y ago
    I started with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector-06C https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector-06C
• bencollier49 6y ago
  This tugs all the heartstrings for me as it mimics the computers of the early 80s. My only criticism is that their use of micro-HDMI makes it very easy for children to wreck the machine. I've had this happen twice to me on RPi4s, and it's not a terribly pleasant experience. Now all I want from them is a custom edition with the function keys in red, the rest in black, and the body in beige.
  • lloeki 6y ago
    [Unpopular opinion] having been spoiled by a working case† of USB-C, I wish there were 6 of those at the back instead of all the different plugs (save for Ethernet and GPIO)... [Even more unpopular opinion] ... even if they were functionally different and marked explicitly as USB 3 x3, HDMI x2, power x1. † I hear this is not everyone's case, but I just decided to buy a bunch of USB-C <-> whatever cables and stash the old cables in a drawer. The experience has been refreshing ever since, even emergency charging the laptop over 5W.
    • WatchDog 6y ago
      I would imagine that a USB-C controller, would add a fair bit to the price, maybe a later SOC will support it.
      • MonadIsPronad 6y ago
        If I'm not mistaken the power-input is via USB-C: does that imply the existence of a USB-C controller already?
  • PostThisTooFast 6y ago
    Yeah, they should've gone with full-sized HDMI ports, since they have the room.
  • Kim_Bruning 6y ago
    If only it had the traditional orange F-keys. Then it would be perfect! references: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro#/media/File:BBC_Micro_Front_Restored.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro#/media/File:BBC_Micr... or an actual ARM model: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes#/media/File:Acorn_Archimedes_A3000_Computer_Main_Unit.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes#/media/File:A...
• kristopolous 6y ago
  What a clean and stylish execution. I have too many pis already but I think they just sold me another. That video ad is Steve Jobs-level excellence.
  • saagarjha 6y ago
    If I were doing it I'd use a cleaner background, some background music, add a British voiceover, and do more continuous shots. The cut away from the wire going into the port hurt me :(
    • kristopolous 6y ago
      it's called glamour - you intentionally don't show everything and let the imagination fill in the gaps. It's a gorgeous advertising technique when done properly and a terribly annoying one when done poorly. I'd argue here it might have come close but obviously not for you. Glamour is mightily hard. I don't even try it when doing products. Apple's pulled it off a few times.
• geerlingguy 6y ago
  I was lucky to get a pre-release version to test, and I decided to tear it down before I started trying it out. I posted this blog post with detailed pictures of the insides, and some more details and performance benchmarks: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-teardown-and-review https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-tear... There are also a couple videos linked in the post, if you're more visually-inclined. Fun fact: the Pi 400 (and Compute Module 4) both have newer revisions of the BCM2711 SoC (C0 instead of B0), and that's part of the reason the clock speed is higher on the Pi 400 (1.8 GHz) than on the regular Pi 4 model B (1.5 GHz)—the newer revision apparently handles faster clocks and scaling with less heat than the older revision.
  • avian 6y ago
    One comment regarding your "performance comparison" graph. Is the "dd" result read or write? I wondered the same thing with your Compute Module 4 post.
    • geerlingguy 6y ago
      It's write speed; sorry about that, I should probably be more specific! All the benchmarks I'm using are from this Wiki page (http://www.pidramble.com/wiki/benchmarks/microsd-cards http://www.pidramble.com/wiki/benchmarks/microsd-cards) — though I need to update that page to include some more USB/SATA/NVMe performance benchmarks since I'm now using a lot more drives with the Pi 4 and CM4 (and skipping microSD entirely for most builds).
  • drcongo 6y ago
    On the subject of heat, how is it on this thing? I've heard stories about the Pi 4 B.
    • ygra 6y ago
      There's an aluminium plate that serves as a heat sink and appears to work quite well, apparently.
    • 6y ago
• jbverschoor 6y ago
  Why was it not just called a "home computer" ?
• anthropodie 6y ago
  Like everywhere else, schools here in India also have gone online. But students here do not have computers. They are taking their classes using parents smartphones. Now you can imagine all the issues that one can face while using this setup. Moreover it's not feasible to sit with a mobile phone for 5-6 hrs of classes. My father is a teacher and I had this idea to let his students use Raspberry PI with TVs but this is perfect for them.
• rootsudo 6y ago
  I love it, I really do. The logitech keyboards w/ the touchpad built in suck. This just looks adorable.
• rhys_the_davies 6y ago
  Got myself a pre-release version to test with Ubuntu. The higher clock speed at 1.8GHz makes such a nice difference, https://ubuntu.com/blog/raspberry-pi-400-with-ubuntu-support https://ubuntu.com/blog/raspberry-pi-400-with-ubuntu-support
  • randomsearch 6y ago
    How usable is it? What desktop runs out of the box and does it lag? Genuinely missing Linux and thinking this would be fun, but only if I can use an up to date distro and it doesn’t hang all the time.
• qwerty456127 6y ago
  I would buy immediately if it also had a display and a battery to make a laptop (and a cooler so I wouldn't have to worry when I start a long compilation routine on it). Looks great otherwise.
  • MarcScott 6y ago
    That would probably quadruple the price. Look at PiTop. They used to include batteries and a display, but have moved away from that, as these are the most expensive peripherals. You can by a cheap display, or use your existing TV. A USB power supply isn't too expensive either.
    • qwerty456127 6y ago
      I have indeed got enough spare displays but I just want to carry my Pi 4 around and use it in public transport and everywhere so a separate display and a web of cables doesn't seem particularly convenient. Perhaps I could buy a PiTop but their current model is not a laptop.
    • qwerty456127 6y ago
      Why quadruple, anyway? I've seen quite a number of ~$200 laptops and found their screens and batteries tolerable (although, obviously, not really good).
      • MarcScott 6y ago
        It's a matter of scale. $200 laptops are great if you can produce thousands of them and have a market willing to buy them. That's why Chromebooks sell so well. Let's also not forget that Chromebook/Android devices enjoy the subsidy provided by Google's advertising division. I doubt the Pi 400 with a screen, battery, touchpad and integrated webcam would be able to sell in numbers that would justify the manufacturing and distribution costs.
  • Robotbeat 6y ago
    The display seems to me to be a bigger problem than the battery. Small, 3 Amp capable USB batteries are common and cheap ($10-$20 on Amazon). Displays are expensive (and need their own power source), but people can at least use TVs like they did with those 1980s PCs. I sort of suspect that if this is really successful, they might come out with a laptop version. That'd be nice.
• tunnuz 6y ago
  I anyone using the Pi to run very old computer games? Because this could be the perfect gaming console for the nostalgic.
  • geerlingguy 6y ago
    One of the YouTube reviews deals specifically with retro gaming on the Pi 400: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nopc7mJUDkM&list=PLcd1Q0-YkB1euCFXbFXgAQYy9ZCig6-eA&index=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nopc7mJUDkM&list=PLcd1Q0-YkB... — also that channel spent a little time rendering some concepts for more retro-looking Pi 400 designs.
  • Cthulhu_ 6y ago
    I've got a RPI with RetroPi, it... sorta works, but the cheap controllers aren't very good, and there's a noticeable input lag in games like Mario Bros. N64 games don't get a decent framerate. Mind you this is with an RPI 2 or 3 so not the best hardware either. I got a refurbished N64 as well, works as intended.
    • regularfry 6y ago
      "Very old" means different things to different people. If you want to run the sorts of games that used to run on "keyboard plugged into the TV" computers, think Z80, not VR4300.
  • Udo 6y ago
    After combining two broken Amiga 500s into one single working one, I had an Amiga case and an Amiga keyboard left over. The nice thing about the Amiga keyboard is that it is pretty much a serial device, so it wasn't hard to set up an Arduino Pro Micro to act as a keyboard-to-usb adapter. Then I put in a Raspberry Pi with a Retropie SD card, two gamepads, a mouse, and that's all. I didn't put a lot of effort into making it look nice, so it's basically just a bunch of cables coming out the back of the Amiga, but at first glance it's still an ordinary Amiga. Works pretty well overall for Amiga, C64, Spectrum, Atari, and DOS games. Of course boot time is not great, and add to that the time spent navigating Retropie's menu system, it's all a bit of a hassle. It does work better than my actual Amiga for "productivity" applications because I can set it up with more memory and better networking options.
• jug 6y ago
  Haha, this is exactly what I'd like to see but for the MiSTer FPGA system. I like retro computing and while the RPi can do that, doing it in hardware is even better. However, now that it's released, maybe it can be disassembled and reconnected for that one, if it fits...
• jonny383 6y ago
  SD cards really let the Pi down. Thank god for USB boot.
• peterburkimsher 6y ago
  First impression: yes, this looks beautiful, reminiscent of the microcomputer revolution, and of course I wish I could get one. What would I change? It's a pity that the keyboard is connected using a flip-up ribbon, rather than internal USB. Although I can see why the target market (education) just prefers an all-in-one computer, this also means that the RPi 400 can't be used as a keyboard for other computers. Therefore I'll still need to carry a keyboard around. There will be software options for virtual USB host (e.g. shameless plugs for the EspUSB which uses WiFi, or KeyMouSerial which uses serial) but in practice, those wouldn't be as easy for most hackers. There's also no F12 key, which is needed for system configuration on some distros. The two Micro-HDMI ports are quite small and close together (especially when using a 3-way micro-mini-full size HDMI adaptor). Like Apple, there's no headphone jack. Also no built-in SD reader, so I'd still need to carry a USB card reader (unlike my laptop, which can go directly from camera SD cards to HDMI on a projector). Final nitpick: if this keyboard is intended for young people, their hands are smaller, so full-size keys are actually less comfortable. (believe it or not, I've even seen keyboards intended for children that have extra-large keys). A design with smaller keys that could fit in my large pocket (e.g. TI-84 sized device) would be preferable. What the RPi Foundation has done is an excellent feat of engineering, and they should and will be rewarded by the market for their innovation. It's a great product. I just still see some room for future improvements.
  • secfirstmd 6y ago
    Yeh the keyboard for other computers would be awesome.
  • fanf2 6y ago
    I believe the USB-C power port can be used for USB-2 gadget mode, so you could in theory configure the Pi 400 to act as a keyboard for another computer :-)
  • herogreen 6y ago
    If one of the usb port allow OTG someone can hack a driver to turn the 400 into a keyboard (albeit a very bloated one as it would be running a full OS!).
• nl 6y ago
  That GPIO port looks so much like the old C64 cartridge port: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#/media/File:Commodore-64-Computer-BL.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64#/media/File:Commo... Wouldn't it be fun to ship cartridge games again?
• schappim 6y ago
  It is quite amazing to see how far we've come since the C64. Clock speed: 1827x Benchmark: 430000x Memory: 65536x Power: 0.5x Screen resolution: 130x Serial port rate: 1562500x Introductory price: 6x less Reference: [1] https://files.littlebird.com.au/Shared-Image-2020-11-02-20-06-07-Y9OS5.png https://files.littlebird.com.au/Shared-Image-2020-11-02-20-0...
  • photon-torpedo 6y ago
    And boot time? ;)
    • schappim 6y ago
      Gotta give the C64 something.
      • Cthulhu_ 6y ago
        I did a quick google, you can get "something" to boot within seconds, like a chess game made in assembly: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56413 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=56413
    • forinti 6y ago
      RISCOS boots really fast.
  • TekMol 6y ago
    Benchmark: 430000x Cool. That would mean performence more then doubled on a yearly basis. Unfortunately, your "reference" is just the same numbers you posted but as an image. I don't know if this counts as a "reference" :) Any links to who performed those benchmarks?
    • boltefnovor 6y ago
      Demanding facts and methodology eh? You don’t seem to understand benchmarks.
• cambo 6y ago
  Why isn't it just a CM plugged into the bottom of the keyboard circuit board for upgradability... it doesn't bode well that Rasberry Pi's own products aren't using the weird connecter the CM has.
  • SahAssar 6y ago
    I hadn't seen that the new CMs don't use the SODIMM form factor anymore, that's a bit disappointing.
    • cambo 6y ago
      Jeff Gerrling goes over why they changed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUamq0ey8_M&ab_channel=JeffGeerling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUamq0ey8_M&ab_channel=JeffG...
      • rbanffy 6y ago
        Sadly, they can't be mounted perpendicular to a cluster board like the previous version.
  • exged 6y ago
    If you want to upgrade you might as well just buy a regular RPi4 and plug in your own keyboard.
  • imtringued 6y ago
    I've seen a lot of devices like the CM that use a random connector and for some reason they never actually name the connector and its MPN. Alchitry and Parallela have "weird" connectors as well and it was always a pain in the ass to figure out which connector they've been using.
    • DanBC 6y ago
      RPi do name the connector in the CM4 datasheet: https://datasheets.raspberrypi.org/cm4/cm4-datasheet.pdf https://datasheets.raspberrypi.org/cm4/cm4-datasheet.pdf You can buy the connector here: https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/1362374/?grossPrice=Y&cm_mmc=UK-PPC-DS3A-_-google-_-3_UK_EN_PCB+Sockets_Hirose_Exact-_-Hirose+-+PCB+Sockets+-+1362374+--_-df40hc+3.0+100ds+0.4v+58&matchtype=e&kwd-360440442175&s_kwcid=AL!7457!3!443699393884!e!!g!!df40hc%203.0%20100ds%200.4v%2058&gclid=CjwKCAiA-f78BRBbEiwATKRRBC8Esi76AkQ1bSJYGLpJxmm5f_Dx4wXqlh1E3D5V0HGgEUkYMGRvpBoCiHEQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/1362374/?grossPrice=... I agree with you though. RPi appeals to people with a wide range of skills. There are lots of programmers who want to use Pi to get more electronics knowledge, and RPi foundation could make that a bit easier for those people. (EDIT: I don't understand why parent has been downvoted. A lot of similar devices do use newer more specialised connectors and it can be hard to work out who makes and supplies the connectors.)
• fyfy18 6y ago
  For anyone wondering it is $70, meaning £67 or €69 (DE).
  • mosselman 6y ago
    Wow, the pound has seen better times.
    • mekkkkkk 6y ago
      It's not a straight conversion, parent poster refers to GB/EU pricing of the product. A straight conversion would be ~54£. I did a double take as well, and had to look it up.
      • tmhrtly 6y ago
        However US pricing is normally exclusive of tax whereas the U.K. price is inclusive of 20% VAT. 54*1.2 is around £65 so not that far off the £67 price.
        • mekkkkkk 6y ago
          I did not know that. So when ordering stuff in the US, the tax is added at the checkout stage? Is it because of state tax laws being different or something?
          • jonp888 6y ago
            I guess that's part of it, although in this day and age it's trivial to equip each branch with a laser printer and program which adds the local sales tax. However, there's a simpler reason: for psychological reasons no retailer is going to voluntarily put higher prices on their shelves than they have to, and since unlike most other countries there is no consumer protection law requiring the the actual checkout price including sales tax to be displayed, they don't.
          • kzrdude 6y ago
• tromp 6y ago
  I really want to like this, but the shrinking of the keys around the return key is a big turn off.
  • mytec 6y ago
    The pipe and backslash are beside the Z key as well, making the left side shift key narrower.
    • 1996 6y ago
      This is because the picture is for a British/ISO layout, not out standard US/ANSI layout.
      • deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    • 0-_-0 6y ago
      I think it copies the macbook layout, like so many other mini keyboards: https://keyshorts.com/blogs/blog/37615873-how-to-identify-macbook-keyboard-localization#us-international https://keyshorts.com/blogs/blog/37615873-how-to-identify-ma...
• bitwize 6y ago
  Oh, man, it's like an 80s home computer for today. It's just what every kid needs.
• qz2 6y ago
  Can we please have a Pi without a crappy storage interface. It's either a microSD card or something dangling off USB. An M2 SATA or NVMe would make this credible but 99% of the problems I've had with the Pi platform is storage related, either being knackered microSD cards, terrible performance or USB power problems.
  • ejolto 6y ago
    Sounds like you're not the target audience for a RPi. They are meant to be cheap computers for "the promotion of teaching basic computer science in schools and in developing countries"[0]. Adding NVMe support would increase the price. There are alternatives to RPi that do what you want, odroid-h2plus for example. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
    • qz2 6y ago
      Schools don't want to be debugging microSD and USB issues.
      • krageon 6y ago
        Except these problems don't occur for most people, as evidenced by the fact that the current system works fine. Complaints like yours are relatively rare.
        • qz2 6y ago
          Rubbish. They do. My daughter's school has a pile of knackered Pi's that the teachers don't have the time and budget to fix. Broken connectors, duff microSDs, bricks. They don't use them now, preferring python on windows.
          • chaos_a 6y ago
            sounds like people simply weren't taking any care of them, that's why they broke. If they had cases and decent sd cards that probably wouldn't have happened.
• m4r35n357 6y ago
  Shut up & take my money!!!
• forest_dweller 6y ago
  These look pretty decent for the price. I still wish there was proper storage but otherwise this looks really nice. I don't have a use for one though. I only really use my pi4 as a Kodi box and my Pi2 is just a FTP server for my friends.
• boltefnovor 6y ago
  I like the general idea but frankly this is underwhelming. Where’s the sense of fun? Given the origin of the raspberry pi being the old BBC and other home computers it would have been fun to have a solid computer with a full size keyboard reminiscent of the old 8 bit machines like the Acorn or the BBC micro. The is just a keyboard. And really a missed opportunity to be something unique and fun and exciting. This is kinda neat but nothing special. I’m not involuntarily reaching for my wallet.
  • yreg 6y ago
    Isn't the goal to provide an affordable computer to those who currently can not afford one? Instead of selling a cool collectible…
    • boltefnovor 6y ago
      Is affordability the goal? I thought inspiration was.
      • krageon 6y ago
        Inspiration for what? The point of rpi boards has always been affordable computing as far as I'm aware. Perhaps that inspired you in the past.
      • x3ro 6y ago
        > Inspired by the home computers of the 1980s, our mission is to put affordable, high-performance, programmable computers into the hands of people all over the world. Pretty sure affordability is a goal.
• sschueller 6y ago
  I was hopping they would just use the compute module[1] and you could replace/upgrade or even use it in another project. In the teardown you can see there is only one board. [2] I would have also though it would cost less but I guess integrating it directly is even cheaper. [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-compute-module-4/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-compute-module... [2] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-teardown-and-review https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-tear...
  • rsync 6y ago
    "In the teardown you can see there is only one board." I'm curious - can one buy that one board ? It is an odd form-factor that I have not seen a raspi use in the past (long and rectangular) - is it only sold as part of these keyboard units ?
• glaive123 6y ago
  for some reason I thought the title was Raspberry Pi $400 Desktop PC... but it's only $70
• sloshnmosh 6y ago
  Awesome! I didn’t know that Raspberry Pi had these. I will definitely be ordering one. I do already own a newer Raspberry 4 with 4Gb of RAM and the massive heat sink is a must! These things run WAY hotter than the Raspberry Pi 3’s. There are heat-sinking cases made of aluminum made by third-party’s that dissipate the heat almost as well as the turbo fan setups.
• mysterydip 6y ago
  The Pi4 is a great piece of kit, and I love the idea behind this, but for me personally I really need to see all USB3 on it. I have some high speed peripherals that require it, and using a hub doesn't work.
• sytelus 6y ago
  Gosh... if they had made this as box that connects to display and talks to any bluetooth keyboard then this would be gold. Requiring wired keyboard is such a let down and limiting. I would then connect it to my 4K smart TV and also use it as full blown computer! With dedicated app, it can turn any TV to smart TV, picture frame etc with unlimited customizations. It would be like Chromecast on steroids, open programmable OS and a keyboard!
  • gchadwick 6y ago
    I think an existing RPI 4 in one of the many available cases would do what you need there. It already has bluetooth built-in.
  • catmanjan 6y ago
    Yep! A Chromecast running Linux basically
  • dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Gosh... if they had made this as box that connects to display and talks to any bluetooth keyboard then this would be gold. That's basically the existing RPi desktop kit minus keyboard/mouse (RPi, case, power supply, HDMI cable) — it does bluetooth OOB. Which you have been able to get for a long time. So, they already did it. This is a new, extra thing.
• leoncvlt 6y ago
  How do I play sounds with this? I see no jack for speakers or headphones. I assume one could have sound over HDMI but monitors with built-in speakers are not very common.
  • teekert 6y ago
    RPi4 has BT.
    • cardiffspaceman 6y ago
      There are Bluetooth "DACs" that have tube-based amplifiers so you can really go nuts with a DAC that costs like 5 times the cost of the RPi 400.
  • nobodyshere 6y ago
    Monitors with 3.5mm outputs however are not that rare.
  • kingosticks 6y ago
    A super-cheap USB soundcard is another option albeit an ugly one. But I do agree it's a shame they couldn't squeeze an audio output into the design somewhere.
  • rootbear 6y ago
    I noticed that. Audio has to come from the HDMI connection or from Bluetooth, either of which will produce better sound than the standard Pi audio jack. I imagine they see this being used with a TV, much like the old classic 8-bit consoles.
  • AlanYx 6y ago
    You can use a USB audio dongle. Just to take one example, the Apple USB-C audio dongle is only $8 and has extremely good measured performance: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-apple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/r...
• elihu 6y ago
  I like how the GPIO headers are right there in back by all the other usb/hdmi/ethernet ports.
• qwerty456127 6y ago
  I can also see no reason why does it have to be this small (I would appreciate a keypad) and why is there still no heatsink.
  • RoryH 6y ago
    I personally think this product looks awesome, maybe partly nostalgia.
    • qwerty456127 6y ago
      It does, but it would hardly look worse if it were wider. It would break no canon either - e.g. Amiga had the same form-factor but with a full-size keyboard incl. keypad.
  • regularfry 6y ago
    There is a heatsink. It's a large chunk of metal under the keyboard.
  • pta2002 6y ago
    It has a massive heatsink inside of it, it's passively cooled but it's a big chunk of metal the size of the keyboard, which is more than enough for this chip.
• barnacled 6y ago
  Absolutely wonderful! This is getting ever more close to the joy of the original home computers, and a great setup for a kid to start with especially with the book provided. The RPi4 is also an impressive bit of kit. Bravo RPi foundation!
  • danmaz74 6y ago
    Yes the form factor reminds me of my first computer, a Commodore 64.
    • rbanffy 6y ago
      They should offer the case/keys in more colors. I have the black keyboard and it's nice beyond anything I could expect at that price range. Anyway, if they make the board available separately, there can be a huge ecosystem of interesting cases for it.
  • mathnode 6y ago
    I've ordered one, it arrives tomorrow, and until I read your comment I had overlooked the book. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to have an Amiga Commodore 500+, and I read all the included literature cover to cover, over and over again. I have a lot to thank those manuals for! EDIT: It's available for free online as a PDF, https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/books/beginners-guide-4th-ed https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/books/beginners-guide-4th-ed
• kumarvvr 6y ago
  Wow. This would work awesome for distributing Apps that require hardware, for example Point of Sale Systems.
• graycrow 6y ago
  Missed opportunity to use the Compute Module 4 and full-size HDMI ports.
• revanx_ 6y ago
  This is so good, I work from home and I've been eyeballing products like this for a while but until now its all been 3rd party. What would really take the cake for me is if they made a version of this but with a battery and wireless charging, then this really would be an exceptional portable desktop pc.
  • Narishma 6y ago
    At that point they may as well make it into a laptop.
    • johanbcn 6y ago
      I'm hoping some company takes the new Compute Module 4 and does that. Would be great as a thin client + browser only machine.
    • revanx_ 6y ago
      I guess this is why I was down-voted at first, but it really isn't a laptop if it doesn't have a screen and I don't need one. I think we will see hacks with the pi 400 soon that will have a battery anyway, or one can just disassemble it and attach a power bank to it anyway so I guess the solution is already there.
  • anonytrary 6y ago
    I'm curious how you plan to use it wirelessly if you need to plug it into a monitor anyway? Do you also have a mobile monitor?
• deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
• mlamat 6y ago
  You can get a far better used computer for that money. It's a toy.
• miki123211 6y ago
  If there was a way to attach a battery to this, and possibly an external speaker, this would be a pretty cool setup for a notetaker for the blind. We had talking and braille notetakers (basically our equivalent of PDAs), years before the rest of the world heard about such devices. They've been falling out of fashion lately, mostly because they're so expensive, compared to cheaper but slightly worse alternatives like laptops. If we could make one based on a Pi 400, though, it would probably be way cheaper than anything else on the market, and way more powerful, considering we can put Linux on it.
  • fanf2 6y ago
    Sadly the 400 lacks the audio socket that the 4B has :-( so audio out is only available over HDMI or Bluetooth. You can probably power it from a USB battery pack quite nicely.
• einpoklum 6y ago
  So what are the storage medium options for this device? I'm not much of a Pi-guy; some comments mention "eMMC"; can that actually be used? Why and how would it be better than an SD card?
  • graycrow 6y ago
    There is no eMMC or other internal storage option on this PC. Just a microSD card slot and USB.
• brainless 6y ago
  As an engineer/founder from India who dreams of access to the Internet for everyone on this planet, these are the efforts that make me smile. I am in the process of sorting out my financial situation - tough founder luck. But I am happy to order a few of these (and monitors) and rent a small garage to give local kids a free computer lab to learn. (Kolkata, India)
  • ipi 6y ago
    Is it really an affordable situation with the current pricing of the RPI to setup a computer cafe for the kids who don't have access to the computers and internet ?
    • Flex247A 6y ago
      Compared to old computers, it is.
    • brainless 6y ago
      Access to Internet, thankfully and recently, has become super affordable by my own standards to give away. I have a 100Mbps fiber from Airtel (I have US/Europe calls all the time) at around USD 15 (INR 900) / month. I could easily get another for the cafe. Rent for a small garage would be about USD 35 / month. Electricity would not cross USD 50 / month.
  • minerjoe 6y ago
    E-waste is a massive problem nowadays. Why not assemble the lab out of "old" computers? They might take a bit more electricity to run, but, at least in the US, you can get truckloads of computers that were destined for the scrapyard, for free. One local school here threw away 50+ small dell quad-core i5's in their quest to make sure they spend their money wisely. I've assembled a small lab, with many computers, laser printers, scanners, tablets, projectors, big-screens, etc. Without spending a single dollar on hardware. This has two effects, it reuses a resource that was destined for destruction, and it doesn't add fuel ($$$) to the ecological dumpster fire that is modern capitalism.
• varispeed 6y ago
  I dreamed of something like this for ages. Now I need to find a nice pocket monitor and a power bank. I am going to feel like a teen again. Respect!
• amq 6y ago
  Missed opportunities: full-sized HDMI, M.2 storage and a touchpad.
  • myself248 6y ago
    Oh wow, I hadn't even thought of m.2 but you're spot-on. There's a ton of space in there, and we know the SoC has PCIe lanes. Welp, who's gonna solder one up first? I wonder what signals are on the J5 connector...
  • GordonS 6y ago
    You're spot on - a touch pad integrated into the case would mean you didn't need a separate mouse; there's plenty space for an M.2 module, and SD cards are shit; and mini-HDMI really is such a pointless form factor. I'd be ordering one of these tomorrow if it had these features - still, I expect it will sell very well as-is, so I'm really hoping they come out with a new version at some point!
• kumarvvr 6y ago
  I would really love to see a version with on-board flash memory, instead of an SD card for storing the OS and data. Slap on a customized linux system, configure it to load a WebAssembly PWA from a predefined server and you have edge computing on the cheap.
  • dannyw 6y ago
    Even 16GB eMMC will do a lot for intended use cases and you can expand with your own.
• mawalu 6y ago
  A bit of topic: I recently got a Pi 4 and tried to use it to play 4k content on a TV. I could not get hardware decoding working and found a lot other people online with similar problems. I honestly was a bit disappointed because the Pi is often touted (in this thread as well) as having great software support, much better than all the other ARM single board computers out there.
• ksec 6y ago
  I wonder why Google doesn't work with Raspberry on Chrome OS, Android etc. ( Or even secretly donating money to them ) Commoditising your complacement [1]. Otherwise it wont be long before Apple ship a $399 Mac Nano. Not exactly a direct competitor, but it will surely sell like hot cakes in the educational market. [1] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/06/12/strategy-letter-v/
• teekert 6y ago
  They keep adding the minecraft-pi window, which gets me excited. But it is no longer supported or developed: [0], let alone that you could use it to join any multiplayer server. Context: I run a Java Minecraft server (for my son who plays Java edition from Linux) with GeyserMC (which allows Bedrock clients to connect and play) so my son's friends can join from tablets and Wii's. It would be cool to be able to play from pi's. [0] https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Pi_Edition https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Pi_Edition
  • ryukafalz 6y ago
    > GeyserMC (which allows Bedrock clients to connect and play) Oh wow thank you for mentioning this, I had no idea this existed!
    • teekert 6y ago
      It works best without any other plugins but the community is very active and issues (which there definitely are, i.e., on a touchscreen you can still only place water/lava where the pointer would be on java) are addressed really fast. If you drop the plugin into the plugin folder of your mc server (recommended server is paper) it should work after a restart.
  • robotnikman 6y ago
    Nice, I never even knew geyser existed. I've been waiting for some kind of Proxy to allow Bedrock players to join Java servers. Bedrock server software is basically non-existant.
• Foivos 6y ago
  Is the USB-C only for power? Could you plug it in a monitor directly through USB-C, so that you could have display and power (and possible access to the hub of the monitor) through single cable?
  • fanf2 6y ago
    If it is like the Raspberry Pi 4B then the USB-C port has a USB-2 data connection for OTG / gadget mode purposes. No high-bandwidth data.
• pachico 6y ago
  Unfortunately, in reality it costs at least $115 (at least in all providers in Spain) which changes quite a lot the value proposition.
  • forinti 6y ago
    I wouldn't mind paying that. Nobody is shipping to Brazil anymore. I used to buy from Modmypi (great customer service and shipped to Brazil!), but then The Pi Hut took over. Oh well, sooner or later Aliexpress with have it.
    • pachico 6y ago
      You might pay for it, true, and so would I, probably. However, for schools and institutions (especially in low income realities) this 60% difference might be the differentiating trigger.
• LeonM 6y ago
  Is there any information on why it is called the '400'? there seems to be no important specification with 400 in it, so where does the name come from?
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • coder543 6y ago
    The important specification is that this is based on Raspberry Pi 4, thus... 400. Since it is modeled after computers in the 80s that were sold in a keyboard form factor, such as the Atari 400 and the Amiga 500, they apparently thought that a three digit number would hit the right note for the nostalgia they wanted to invoke.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• k__ 6y ago
  Nice to see that my Asus Tinker Board still holds up well with the current state of RPI after all these years.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• johnnylambada 6y ago
  Kudos to Raspberry Pi for choosing to call it the "400". An obvious nod to the Atari 400, the computer-in-a-keyboard of the mid 1980's that I grew up with.
• Niccizero 6y ago
  Sadly it sufferes from "squished" ISO syndrome like so many keyboards and laptops nowadays. I had to spend a buttload of money in a P1 in order to get a Thinkpad without a squished ISO layour keyboard.
• tyingq 6y ago
  I like the subtle shout out to left handers, with the mouse on the left :)
  • rob74 6y ago
    As much as I like to see minorities supported this way (I am left-handed too), I suspect this was mainly done so they wouldn't have to cross the mouse cable over the other cables, which would have looked awkward in the photo...
    • tyingq 6y ago
      Ah, so maybe V2 will have the USB port located on the right.
• winter_blue 6y ago
  This is a really cool throwback to the era when computers were integrated into keyboards (like the Commodore 64, etc).
• xattt 6y ago
  There was a thread about distraction-free writing a few days ago. This is an absolutely perfect machine without having to resort to buying old laptops and hacking FreeDOS onto them.
• maxme3 6y ago
  Any recommendation for a monitor? My 5yo son has fun with an external keyboard connected to an old Android tablet. He learns to type and write basic math and words. I'd like him to jump to the next step. I was contemplating buying him a monitor and a mouse to plug in an old Raspberry with linux distro for kids.
  • TheRealDunkirk 6y ago
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BZNDOO https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BZNDOO I've been buying Asus monitors for years, and I just bought that one specifically for hooking up tertiary computers like Pi's.
• fanf2 6y ago
  One thing that the Pi 400 has that the 4B does not is POE (power over ethernet) built in: the chunky BOURNS chip near the ethernet socket is a POE transformer. So it only meets network, display, and mouse to work!
  • fanf2 6y ago
    Actually this is probably incorrect - I got this information from https://ubuntu.com/blog/raspberry-pi-400-with-ubuntu-support https://ubuntu.com/blog/raspberry-pi-400-with-ubuntu-support but it looks like the BOURNS chip is just the usual ethernet magnetics, which are built in to the jack in the other Raspberry Pi models. There’s no visible connection to the power circuitry. (They are using a different ethernet jack which has a lower profile than their usual one.)
• puzzlingcaptcha 6y ago
  This would be nice with miracast, if miracast was actually a good interoperable standard and worked.
• nfriedly 6y ago
  Does the power port support USB 2.0 data lines? The Pi 4 B does, and one of the things you can do with that is make it emulate a keyboard. If that works with the Pi 400, it could be the ultimate programmable keyboard! Edit: per https://youtu.be/3A7pQN5W08E https://youtu.be/3A7pQN5W08E it supports USB OTG, so it sounds like the answer is yes!
• Udik 6y ago
  This is beautiful, and it really has the vibe of the 80s home computers on which I learned how to program. What those computers also had, though, was that they immediately booted to a programming interface and a small but well defined set of capabilities explorable through coding. Wanted to do calculations? Code. Wanted to do graphics? Simple enough, but also required coding. Sound, same. You wanted to load a program or a game? You had to use the command line for that too! Does a similar system exist today? Something you can boot a computer to and it immediately provides a kids friendly, interpreted programming environment with the ability to do graphics and sounds- but nothing else? That would be the perfect companion to this machine.
  • AlanYx 6y ago
    Raspberry Pi can run Squeak, which is a full-blown Smalltalk-80 environment, not unlike the one Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg taught kids to use in their Dynabook work. You could configure a Pi to boot directly into Squeak and it would be the spiritual successor to that kind of environment. There are also other good educational alternatives that aren't entirely immersive but run well on the Pi (Scratch, Python's Turtle module, Mathematica and its interactive notebook (free on the Pi), etc.).
• varispeed 6y ago
  One missed opportunity regarding the educational value is that it is a shame they used some BGA chips instead of more soldering friendly package. People then could learn how to mod these by swapping RAM or other components or training repairs. Sure you can do BGA as well, but it may be too intimidating for a beginner and may require special equipment.
  • yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
    Do non-BGA chips exist at the performance level they want? I was under the impression that nobody was manufacturing such things, in which case the pi foundation probably can't do anything about it.
    • varispeed 6y ago
      You are correct. Unfortunately I can't see any comparable chip in a package other than some kind of BGA. edit: that makes me think if they could release something less capable but in more friendly packages? That will probably not have enough market share to be viable.
      • yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
        Yeah, AFAIK the general thought is that if you're doing something sophisticated enough that you want a good processor, then you clearly have to be a huge manufacturing operation mass producing these things on an assembly line with all the proper equipment, in which case you actually prefer BGA. The only people who want easier to solder packages are hobbyists, who are unlikely to ever make a dent in the market (sadly).
• Woodi 6y ago
  That is so cute ! IMO trendsetter :> But still C64 rules! In mean time I will stick with my lovely Thinkpad X60 - it have 2 Gb RAM less, old wifi, worse display options but better cpu, true-and-only keyboard, "mouse" and display build in ! It runs OpenBSD without a blink, do www stuff, even yt (but fullscreen is a challenge) - perfect for what Pi400 is advertised for. I also have x200, x220, t420 and t430 (<- this is worst tp I ever had - PWM! And never models are all flawed). But lastly my carry around and be happy thinkpad is just x60 :) But also this shows Pi400 is quite capable and ehmm... modern ;) So, RPi Company hurry up that lazy nVidia ! And hope Mozilla will not kill/waste Firefox and themselves... Like they usually do when MS or G have soon be to present new, shiny browser...
• kup0 6y ago
  I don't know why I love the idea of this thing, but I do Maybe because it reminds me of my very first computer, a Tandy 1000HX, which also had a keyboard as its case.
• adontz 6y ago
  Is there any close up photo of the ports? Are there two HDMIs or just one?
  • Foivos 6y ago
    2 micro-HDMI [1] [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/specifications/?resellerType=home https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/specif...
  • phonon 6y ago
    2 micro-HDMI ports.
• ineedasername 6y ago
  This blows my mind. I know, it's much more incremental than it is revolutionary, but I think the form factor achieves a much greater degree of access for many people than a typical Pi whose bare hardware may be a lot more intimidating. Now, it's "just" a computer, which happens to expose a 40-pin connector for the standard Pi hardware fun. And unlike other options you might find, this has the massive built-in community that comes with Pi It reminds me of what Apple does when it redefines a product category by "just" bringing together existing technology into a more convenient form factor and UX. I don't know if this will quite have that level of impact, but I see the potential, especially now with remote learning: My kids are on a hybrid schedule. I'm fortunate to be able to provide them their necessary computing resources. Not everyone can: The district couldn't secure all of the necessary Chrome Books, and some students have been left attempting remote learning via their parent's phone, or simply left behind. A cheap mass market device has some truly amazing potential to fill in these gaps at the same time that it enables more advanced S(T)EM learning than you could get with a typical cheap Chrome Book. I'm also old enough to remember when you'd be hard pressed to find a desktop computer for under $1000, perhaps $1500 adjusted for inflation. One for $70-$100 really just hammers home how far we've come.
  • JKCalhoun 6y ago
    Does Chrome OS run on Raspberry Pi? How crazy is it that one of the Big Players come in, port their OS to the device, and more or less take it over as just another platform with a Start Menu?
    • dunnevens 6y ago
      There's a way to make Chrome OS run on Pi's, but it's insecure. Uses the Fyde version of Chromium OS. https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=227281 https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=227281
      • ant6n 6y ago
        Weil that support the Linux add-on inside Chrome OS?
• the_arun 6y ago
  Well timed release for Christmas!
• bane 6y ago
  The original vision of the rPi was to stimulate education in the way that the original 8-bit microcomputers did. Those machines were pretty much this exact form-factor, a keyboard with a computer stuck underneath. I really like how this is the same thing, and cheaper than the ZX Spectrum ever was.
  • ralph87 6y ago
    It really has instant appeal to me as an adult, but I'm not so sure about target market any more. Kids these days are all glued to their mobile phones, it seems if you want to blow a kid's mind, something that turns their phone into a magic box they can tinker with would be so much better. Something maybe like a combo keyboard with IO breakout ports funnelled over bluetooth, and some matching software development environment closer to GWBASIC or maybe even VB3 than the usual Android toolchain I'm also concerned this doesn't mention much about how accessible the internals are. Can a kid crack it open? Meanwhile, totally digging the nostalgia factor. Probably won't buy one, but damn I'd love one
    • tcbawo 6y ago
      The thing that made old 80s computers so compelling for kids was the simplicity: fewer choices for peripherals, less things to connect, cartridge system for easy launching, easy to restore to a known state if you mess something up (typically just power cycle). What made a particular platform successful was the games available. There were many platforms out there, but kids wanted systems that played the best games. Being able to tinker and poke around, while learning something in the process was a happy side effect. Kids have no shortage of systems for gaming these days, but I'm thinking about getting one of these for my 11yo kid. I like the idea of gentle, friendly introduction to technology, just for tinkering and gaming without the distraction that comes from a multiuse (eg school) machine. Although, I don't want it to become yet another YouTube client, so I'll have to curate the content and supervise him.
• throw_m239339 6y ago
  That product makes no sense to me. I use the RPi for tech projects like a micro PC so I need to be as small as it can be and no bigger than a smartphone. This is thing, at that price, makes no sense when people can either get cheaper netbooks or cheaper tablets. This is basically an expensive netbook without a screen.
• nell 6y ago
  It’d be cool if it can be used as as a regular keyboard that morphs into a computer on the flip of a switch.
  • myself248 6y ago
    You can use the USB Gadget framework to make it enumerate to another machine as a keyboard: https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+gadget+keyboard https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+gadget+keyboard You'd still have to wait for the pi to boot, however.
• Micheal_McL 6y ago
  Beautiful
• gwbas1c 6y ago
  I haven't followed Raspberry Pi very closely... Just curious, what kind of software can these run? Does it have a functional web browser? Can it run GMail? Google Docs?
  • MarcScott 6y ago
    Yes. The Pi 4 and 3+ can run Chromium pretty well, although earlier models will struggle a little. All of G-Suite runs, although video conferencing is a little laggy in my experience. Often if you spoof your browser agent you get better compatibility with a lot of applications. I tend to tell sites that I'm using Chrome on ChromeOS, and things just tend to work. A tonne of FOSS software works, and the only real limitation is whether it has been compiled for ARM chips or not.
  • AlanYx 6y ago
    In addition to all the standard FOSS software you can think of, Wolfram has made the full commercial version of Mathematica available for free for Raspberry Pi users. (It's a huge 600mb+ download.) It's a phenomenal thing for kids who are into math.
• zajio1am 6y ago
  Although i grew up in era of home computers like ZX Spectrum, i think that this form factor has no real advantage today, compared to some miniature brick form factor (with external keyboard), like NUC (or brick with Rasberry Pi). I see several reasons: - External keyboards are super cheap, there is wide variety of designs to choose based on personal preferences, while when integrated in computer you are stuck with one design. - Keyboards are vulnerable to destruction by toppled cup of tea, so it make sense to not put full computer inside. - It is easier to manipulate with keyboard when there is only one cable coming from it instead of 5+ cables. - When moving between places, it is easier to take smaller brick than keyboard-sized computer, while keyboards are interchangable and widespread enough to get one at destination.
  • rahoulb 6y ago
    So that's a normal Pi in a case then?
  • vngzs 6y ago
    Laptops are basically computers inside keyboards, and people still buy them.
    • zajio1am 6y ago
      Laptops have key advantage over ultra small form factor PCs (e.g. NUC) that they are fully self-contained computers that could be used anywhere without any other component. For many people, such advantage can be more important than other disadvantages. This is clearly not true for this kind of keyboard computers, they require monitor a and power like ultra small form factor PCs or other desktop PCs. So my point is that i do not see any advantage for them to outweight disadvantages of such setup.
• mark_l_watson 6y ago
  I love it. I would buy one instantly if it supported USB-C monitors. It has been years since I owned a HDMI monitor. Several years ago, as I was leaving a consulting gig in Singapore to return home, the team there gave me a Raspberry Pi as a gift. As an experiment, I used it as my only driver for three of four days (I still owned a HDMI monitor back then).
• Mister_Snuggles 6y ago
  A long time ago I had a Commodore VIC-20 which was a gift from my cousin. The IBM-compatible PCs were firmly entrenched by this time, so the VIC-20 was obsolete but still functioned. I spent many hours playing with it. Once I discovered the User I/O port, I realized its true power. It wasn't a powerful computer on its own, but the fact that it could easily interface with the real world gave it abilities that the PC clones of the era didn't have. This Raspberry Pi PC reminds me of that VIC-20. Like the VIC-20, it's got a User I/O port and encourages tinkering. Unlike the VIC-20 I had, this is a modern computer that can be used for everything that we expect a modern computer to do. I hope this encourages a new generation of tinkerers!
  • tachyonbeam 6y ago
    That's what I was thinking about as well when I saw it. It's very reminiscent of the VIC-20 and C64. A tinkerer's computer. It's really cool that products like that exist again today, and are so affordable. Almost anyone can buy this for their kid for Christmas! I guess Python is the modern BASIC? I feel like what it's missing is an easy to use graphics package for drawing lines, circles and other basic shapes (kind of like the JS canvas, but more oriented towards beginners). I wonder if there's a pip package that does this well (and doesn't require installing a bunch of dependencies)? I'm also thinking this computer could be further made easier to use for beginners by having a kind of breakout board that plugs into the GPIO and has written labels, makes it easier to connect things (screw terminals?).
    • vopi 6y ago
      There are easier libraries, but turtle [0] and tkinter (tcl/tk) are both included in the standard library that could be used for graphics. Turtle especially is geared towards beginners its similar to LOGO. [1] https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html
    • jlarcombe 6y ago
      pygamezero is good, does have dependencies i suppose.
• seek3r 6y ago
  Looks good. Suggestions for some nice portable monitors to pair with this?
• billpg 6y ago
  Will they be making one with an integrated monitor like a laptop?
• blhack 6y ago
  Edit: I was wrong. This ships with raspian. Very cool :) (I ended up on this page: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400-unit/?resellerType=home https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400-unit/?..., which didn’t list the SD card).
  • vorpalhex 6y ago
    You are almost certainly going to buy a kit when you first start, and that kit is going to come with a preinstalled SD card, a well known power adapter and often times a basic mouse and keyboard.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • ben_w 6y ago
    Given they’ve sold way more than they expected, so I am confused by your criticism. Also note that the original use case was close to “The BBC micro for schools helped a generation learn software and hardware, but modern computers are rubbish at enabling that, because the software is not designed for kids and the hardware is expensive - nobody wants to risk kids bricking an expensive computer.”
  • mikewhy 6y ago
    The page clearly lists the kit version comes with a pre-loaded SD card.
  • jonp888 6y ago
    Did you actually read the article? "The Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit is the “Christmas morning” product, with the best possible out-of-box experience: a complete PC which plugs into your TV or monitor. The kit comprises: - A Raspberry Pi 400 computer - Our official USB mouse - Our official USB-C power supply - An SD card with Raspberry Pi OS pre-installed - A micro HDMI to HDMI cable - The official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide "
• sdenton4 6y ago
  Holy $4!+, it's a cyberdeck. I understand everything now: 2020 is the gateway to the cyberpunk dystopia.
• 1MachineElf 6y ago
  I hope the legends on that keyboard are dye sublimated. Color legends on white plastic is an ideal combo for dye sublimated printing. If it were, then it would have more longevity than most keyboards on the market today. Do that, and you'd probably start seeing these things pop up as kiosks in lots of places. Obviously I wish it was a cool programmable ergonomic custom mechanical keyboard, but this is a great start on it's own.
• lkxijlewlf 6y ago
  I love this, but I do have some concern about the keyboard. I am not a true keyboard snob, but I am pretty picky.
• alfonsodev 6y ago
  I'd love to have a mod kit to convert my ZX Spectrum +2k (the larger one with cassette) enclosure into a pc, with cherry Mx keys.
• gfodor 6y ago
  I wonder how easily one could rig this up to VR wifi streaming - 3d floating desktop, no monitor.
• zeristor 6y ago
  How does this deal with the Raspberry Pi 4' thermal issues? Have they done something different, or will it just overheat and slow down?
• cnr 6y ago
  Are there any plans for 8GB RAM version? I couldn't find any information on the matter.
• moonbug 6y ago
  nice to see a User Port.
• nojvek 6y ago
  Is anyone building a RasberryPi powered cellphone? Basically something that has a battery + solar panel + touch screen. A device that is fully operational without any need of peripherals. Or I guess a more useful device would be a laptop. A chromebook equivalent but powered by rasberry pi and is hopefully kid-proof rugged
  • _joel 6y ago
    I have seen some designs, not sure how much to fruition they've been brought (afair they were still in crowdfunding stages). You'll still never own the baseband though, but would have some degree of freedom and/or learning experience. Pitops exist for laptops and there's also some peli case style solutions iirc
• jdofaz 6y ago
  Computer in the keyboard? I'm having flashbacks to my Atari 800XL
• mark-r 6y ago
  I'm a little disappointed that the mouse appears optimized for lefties. The port is on the left side and the cord is short enough that it will result in restricted movement if moved to the right of the keyboard.
• whywhywhywhy 6y ago
  Still no power button? Which is ok on the bare board but when you productize it like this it's an oversight.
• phamilton4 6y ago
  This is really cool! I'm going to pick one up just to have a linux box on my desk that's separate from my laptop and not a VM. It's a little unfortunate that you can't pick a 8GB option, but 4GB is PLENTY. I remember my first RPi had 256MB!!
  • gcc42 6y ago
    Do it. I have a cheap Linux server (non pi) running in my home, and it's immeasurably useful. It functions as a combination of a backup server (with an attached 8tb drive), Plex server (another 2 Tb media drive), PiHole host and MITmproxy etc. Today I figured that I need to setup periodic email backups from my Gmail, and guess where that cron is going! I use Windows + WSL as my home machine so having a pure Linux machine locally SSHable is a godsend. I though of getting a Pi but I'm just doing too much with the server.
    • phamilton4 6y ago
      I'm thinking it would be a great little all in one for making my gradual transition to linux from windows. For 100 bucks, I'm sure I could buy an OLD laptop, but I like the RPi route! I was about to buy a rpi-zero-w with a KVM or remote into it but tbh the more powerful rpi4 sounds like a better option. It has the gpio headers and keyboard built in! After years of programming professionally, these little things still excite me. :)
• onesun 6y ago
  My only wish for v2.0 of this would be an integrated touchpad so I don't have to use a separate mouse. Similar to a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard. I don't know how many times I've been in a situation where it's challenging to find a surface to use a mouse on when I'm working on a Pi project. Workshop, electronics bench, just doing something real quick on my lap, etc.
  • kiddico 6y ago
    If we're making a wishlist for v2 we may as well put "full sized hdmi ports" on there.
    • m463 6y ago
      I agree. That seems like a wasted opportunity for the form factor change -- at least one full-sized hdmi port would have been a great idea.
    • rplnt 6y ago
      My wishlist would be no HDMI at all. Proprietary and licensed, while we have as capable (if not more) options available.
      • deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      • kiddico 6y ago
        What are the preferred options? The only I can think of is DisplayPort, which has a license (and associated fee) now. Everything else is too big (DVI) or old and big (VGA)
        • rplnt 6y ago
          Oh, I did not know that. I was under the impression the DP is open and free.
  • pricci 6y ago
• tcbawo 6y ago
  Is there a games/app market like Steam available for non-iOS/Android ARM-based devices? I would love to be able to set this device up for my younger kids, allowing them to play Minecraft and Oregon Trail-style edu-tainment type games while leaving the device open for exploration and tinkering. The walled gardens from the major players are blocked off, and distro-based package managers aren't really suitable. IMHO, one of the best solutions to the fragility of storage would be cloud install/save. Maybe the ecosystem is too fragmented, but hopefully something pops up.
  • marcthe12 6y ago
    Almost none(prob some Foss one). Using qemu-user you can run amd64 code on arm. Opengl is going to be a issue though.
• thealienthing 6y ago
  Wow. Now you really can get rid of the damn chrome books that kids are stuck using when learning at home. Cheap, powerful hardware without the google data mining and influencing children.
• Firehawke 6y ago
  It rather reminds me of the old TRS-80 Color Computers I used to use, though the keyboard on those old beasts was far better than this. It might be neat to get one to turn into a C64/CoCo/etc emulation box that you "just plug into the TV" like the old days..
• hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
  I was literally looking Last night to see what an old and big mechanical (I know this isn’t mechanical) keyboard would cost and to see if a Raspberry Pi would fit in it.
• egypturnash 6y ago
  Oh damn, this really feels like it is nailing exactly the gap that the Pi was kinda designed to fill in the first place, IIRC: the small, cheap computer that a kid can dive into, and which a few future titans of the industry will fondly look back on as what got them started.
• cardiffspaceman 6y ago
  To hook this up to monitors that are sitting on shelves, it needs a Display Port or VGA output.
• moralsupply 6y ago
  I wonder why they didn't release a version with 8GB RAM
• callumprentice 6y ago
  This reminds me of my first computer in 1980 - the Acorn Atom. It only had 2K of RAM, 0.5K of which was usable but I remember setting it up and playing with it straight for 2 days. Magical times.
• elchief 6y ago
  Reminds me of the Timex Sinclair 1000 I had as a kid...just much, much better!
• xbar 6y ago
  Brilliant. Makes me wish GPIO was more available on run-of-the-mill PCs and externalized on keyboards and such.
• Zenst 6y ago
  Does this power button (function F10) just hard power off or does it do a scripted shutdown?
• twodave 6y ago
  This is cool. I only wish they didn't skimp on the keyboard. If this were in something like a DAS Keyboard and it could also be used with another PC (as a regular keyboard), that would make this an auto-buy for me. Edit: yeah, I know, it'd be more expensive, but I'd gladly pay $250+. And I also realize that cost is one way they're attempting to differentiate--it would just be nice to have the option.
• cko 6y ago
  This is what I've always wanted. Been searching for years for DIY solutions on getting a raspberry pi into their official keyboard. All of them are Raspberry Pi Zero boards or require lots of cutting.
• TheMagicHorsey 6y ago
  Is it possible to use the Raspberry Pi OS without a mouse? It would be pretty good training to grow up learning how to use the keyboard shortcuts for everything. I'm so much faster in programs where I know enough shortcuts to not have to take my hands off the keyboard.
• peatmoss 6y ago
  Does anyone have any good recommendations for resources / projects for a computer-interested 12 year old? I was thinking of buying a Pi4 for my niece who is “getting into computers” but I fear my tastes in what constitutes interesting or age-relevant content might be out of touch. I also, look at the various books that they sell on the Raspberry Pi site, and worry that they’ll be out of date pretty quickly. If anyone has recommendations for educational materials or projects that I could help my niece with, I’m sure others on this thread are looking for similar ideas. This new all-in-one device really feels like a well timed gift with lockdown and holidays.
  • ampdepolymerase 6y ago
    The key is to follow up. It is not about which present you get them. No amount of Raspberry Pis or Lego MindStorms are useful if you are not willing to spend time to guide her through it. Interest and passion is only helpful if there is nothing else. Children now have iPads and countless sources of entertainment/distraction. A Raspberry Pi to a Gen Z kid is not the same as an Apple II from your childhood to you.
    • peatmoss 6y ago
      Yeah, I figure that will be the case. I assume I’ll have to do some work to see what is resonating with her and what is boring. I am hoping that someone will have some recommended starting places though—I feel like there are probably some things that are likely to be interesting to her that neither of us have any knowledge of. I guess I’m trying to figure out some candidate activities that might help fire her imagination.
  • Fuzzwah 6y ago
    The raspberry pi foundation put out an excellent magazine https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/ https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/
    • peatmoss 6y ago
      I hadn’t seen the magazine, but this looks like a great idea to keep abreast of current and curated activities. Thank you for that pointer.
• crb002 6y ago
  Hoping Apple takes note and smashes their surplus A12/A13 chips into keyboards with 16G RAM as the new mac ultramini :)
• b20000 6y ago
  forty times as powerful as the original pi and still a few orders of magnitude slower than some asian SoCs.
• muterad_murilax 6y ago
  Is the Raspberry Pi 4 capable of running (ARM-based) macOS? If so, this thing may very well be my next Hackintosh. :)
• peter303 6y ago
  The $70 doesnt include a monitor. But many figital TVs will suffice.
• zabardasth 6y ago
  This form factor reminds me of the Commodore 64 and old school retro computing. Long live the user developer! :)
• peter303 6y ago
  It blows my mind that for $150 (adding monitor) I can have a general purpose UNIX computer more power than VAX 11/780s and Sun-3s I did my PhD research on in the 1980s. ($150 = $40 1980s dollars).
• Zelphyr 6y ago
  This reminds me so much of the Commodore-64 I had as a kid.
• peter303 6y ago
  I attended the Stanford Linear Accelerator Homebrew Computer meetup where the two Steves introduced the Apple I computer motherboard 44 years ago. The spirit of homebrew computing has ebbed and waned over the intervening decades. The Raspberry Pi series is a worthy descendent of this tradition.
• acd 6y ago
  This reminds me of home computers like the Commodore 64 and the Amiga. That you get all that you need in a ready to go package! Great idea!
• newbie789 6y ago
  This looks really nice! It's a beautiful form factor. My only gripe is that I'd like the option of getting their 8GB model in this, but I suppose they must have a good reason for only offering this SKU.
• codezero 6y ago
  This is cool, but I think it's a pretty big omission not to include a trackpad/nub or something to make this fully integrated (I use a Logitech K400 with my RPI 4 and having the trackpad on board is huge) - it's not really that fun to do default NOOBs/Ubuntu with no mouse, and having an attached USB mouse while, say, sitting on a couch, is a bit lame. The 80s systems with this form factor mostly didn't have mice, and the joysticks were just as lap-able as the keyboard. That said, this was a timely move, and should only help them get folks up and running. I got a full RPI 4 kit for my team for the holidays last year, and getting it all assembled and running was a huge hurdle for technical adults who've never used linux/built a computer.
• codebolt 6y ago
  Cool. Now can we please get this thing with Norwegian key layout ASAP?
• taf2 6y ago
  These would be great in a school environment for learning how to program.
• mixmastamyk 6y ago
  I recommend Ubuntu Mate for a Pi desktop, it is more refined than the standard rasbian install. There’s support for the 4 now as well.
• ddingus 6y ago
  I want one. Let's start there. Form is a big deal. I expect these to be quite successful. All things come full circle. Home computer that plugs into the TV. Love it.
• FPGAhacker 6y ago
  Seems like it might be fun to pair with a smallish eink display.
• ugh123 6y ago
  Surprised they haven't ditched the caps-lock if a good chunk of their target market is kids. Most Chromebooks have done away with this and it seems to have helped my kids ability to log in
• theodric 6y ago
  Too expensive, too little RAM, no camera interface. Pass.
• erichocean 6y ago
  Why isn't Amazon a "Raspberry Pi Approved Reseller"?
• karmakaze 6y ago
  I thought this should be called the Raspi 400 as a nod to the Atari 400 computer, my first.
• Tiktaalik 6y ago
  They should definitely build a small little matching monitor to match this.
• sergiotapia 6y ago
  Just bought this for my daughter, thanks!
• Keyframe 6y ago
  I wish there was an 8gb model. I have two already, but that would be an insta-buy.
• zeristor 6y ago
  The ZX81 came out forty years ago for the £69.95, albeit 1981 pounds. All we need now is a 16Gb RAM pack that wobbles whenever you type on it.
• GeorgeTirebiter 6y ago
  One thing I do NOT like is their continued reliance on SDcards -- after a while of 'normal' use (maybe a couple of years?) I've found the SDcards in my RPis tend to go south. It seems to be it would have been so much better to just have one USB 3 slot dedicated for a USB3 Flash thumb drive, which could be slipped inside. Another small thing: it would be nice if the kbd had a ThinkPad 'stick' mouse --- which is much more convenient than having to have an external mouse. But, hey, nobody is stopping 'somebody' from doing that, eh?
  • LeoPanthera 6y ago
    "Endurance" SD cards, usually sold for use in dashcams, last a lot longer.
• martin1975 6y ago
  Call me a dreamer, as much as I love RPi, I would love to see a RISC-V SBC soon. I happen to believe RISC-V will do for hardware what Linux did for the OS.
• rickspencer3 6y ago
  I can't wait to replace my rpi 4 that I use for my Arduino projects with one of these.
• anonytrary 6y ago
  That's the sexiest advertisement video I've ever seen I think. The sounds, the close-ups, the cup at the end ... brilliant marketing team!
• danielEM 6y ago
  Since there is no real completion on this market my 7y/o laptop worth nearly nothing today is 3 times faster than this 100$ RPi. Sad, but true.
• petejames 6y ago
  I'm thinking about getting these for my nieces and nephews. What apps/bookmarks should I install for them to explore easily from the desktop. So far I'm thinking: - Scratch - Khan Academy - RetroPi - what else?
  • punnerud 6y ago
    Most important is an easy way to fix it if they “break” it. Them them explore/hack Linux and try stuff out.
• tgerdin 6y ago
  It looks slighly smaller than my Amiga 600..
• punnerud 6y ago
  Connected to iPad with USB-C, and you have a full blown computer with hacking capability.
• gigel82 6y ago
  The geek in me is very excited about this device; but on more practical terms, you could pick a nice, compact, significantly more powerful x86 device like [1] for $100 more, and that opens up the world of possibilities in terms of software compatibility. [1] https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/27/chuwi-larkbox-pro-mini-pc-gets-a-faster-celeron-j4125-processor/ https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/27/chuwi-larkbox-pro-mi...
• deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
• kovek 6y ago
  This computer-in-a-keyboard is very cool! I think that in the future, we might be comfortable bringing around our tablets and connecting them wirelessly(or wired) to monitors at our home, office or PC cafe, and do presentations, code, etc. This is almost possible today with tablets. This keyboard almost achieves this vision, but it doesn't provide you with a screen, so it's not possible to show anything while you're on the go... Though I wonder if someone could do some work with keyboard-and-headphones only? EDIT: Carry an android tablet, and this keyboard, with a battery pack, and you can show the keyboard's view onto the android tablet: https://youtu.be/PZLEUOG9k4Y https://youtu.be/PZLEUOG9k4Y . It might be nice
• walrus01 6y ago
  My primary concern about using this as a desktop PC with a GUI (perhaps for educational, very cost-sensitive, or developing nation environments) is microSD card write wear leveling problems. Even if you use a "expensive" industrial microSD card, it's still going to suck compared to even a cheap $45 consumer grade SATA3 MLC SSD. And ultimately fail much earlier.
• known 6y ago
  Could RISC-V Processors Compete With Intel, ARM, and AMD? https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/20/11/01/0127253/could-risc-v-processors-compete-with-intel-arm-and-amd https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/20/11/01/0127253/could-r...
• 1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago
  The comments in this thread appear to focus on form factor. What makes this offering interesting IMO is that this a PC sold without a HDD and without an OS pre-installed. Although the "kit" may supply an SD card with a "recommended" OS, there is no obligation to use it. There are plenty of other options. Users can use multiple OS on the same computer without the inconvenience of "dual-boot". Although some of the first personal computers, e.g., the ones advertised in the back of Popular Science, did not come with software, that flexibility did not last and bundling/pre-installation became a corporate strategy. User choice of OS is something no "Big Tech" company today will ever allow. Their business relies on being able to make this choice for the user and all the power that control over the OS allows. Imagine buying a computer without a Microsoft, Apple, Google or Amazon OS pre-installed.
  • Aicy 6y ago
    That is all true, the reason people aren't mentioning it is that it was true for all former raspberry pi PC's - the form factor is what's new.
• known 6y ago
  Reminds me https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Qube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Qube
• hymnsfm 6y ago
  How does one become a dealer in Canada?
• benlumen 6y ago
  Can anyone tell me if the 400 supports Kali with frame injection, as they say the Pi 4 does? Thinking of a Xmas gift for a security student.
• akhilkg 6y ago
  This is so very tempting!
• Asmod4n 6y ago
  Can this be used as a keyboard for a PC?
• fithisux 6y ago
  Why not 8GB? Shouldn't it Rpi be swappable?
• mrlonglong 6y ago
  Bring on the Raspberry Pi 800 and 1600 !
• sniglom 6y ago
  I really wish they would have gone for at least one full size HDMI port with the 400. There is room on the PCB for it.
• m0zg 6y ago
  It's irrational how much I want this. I don't need it. I already have an absurd number of computers, even more absurd if I include all the SBCs scattered around. And yet I want this anyway.
• newdude116 6y ago
  Great idea. I predict it will fail. There is reason why we moved beyond the "bread case" computers. I don't see any problem that this "desktop" solves. A RPi with a keyboard would be the same price.
• renaudg 6y ago
  Now that the ARM build of macOS is days away, could this Raspberry Pi be the ultimate Hackintosh ?
• lukicdarkoo 6y ago
  Can we use it as an actual keyboard (plug it into our PC)?
• chrisdew 6y ago
  Does the Pi 400 PCB allow a future 8 GB model?
• sleepybrett 6y ago
  I'm not clear, did they leave the connector for the camera exposed inside the case, or is that just gone?
• calin2k 6y ago
  I wish it had a full size HDMI port, there is space on the back. MicroHDMI connector si so fragile.
• tracker1 6y ago
  Reminds me of the old Comodore 64, BBC Micro and other computers that were designed for youth interaction... and I think it's a very nice successor in that vein. This is a way better option for many and should have much broader support. Aside, could make a good 1080p chromiumos option for seniors as well. edit: build in usb3 to 2.5" sata drive would have been really nice too.
• ruslan 6y ago
  I have been wanting a PC like this for years, I even found a couple of them (x86 based) on AliExpress, but they were too large for my needs. Suggested improvements for Pi 400: 1. Add a couple more keys to the layout: PGUP, PGDOWN, HOME, END - these are needed for seamless web browsing without a mouse. 2. A small touch pad would be great to have. 3. A MIPI camera interface and two more USB ports. 4. LiPO battery.
• tomcam 6y ago
  Canakit had them in stock when I ordered yesterday. This reminds me of the excitement I felt when I got a Commodore 64.
• fomine3 6y ago
  I wonder sometimes Google start providing ChromeOS for RPI officially.
• alsargent 6y ago
  I'll make two bets: 1) PC makers start coming out with their own keyboard computers with a similar form function within the next 12 months. 2) A future Mac Mini has this same keyboard form factor. (Perhaps with a "keyboard + magic trackpad" form factor.)