4 ms·

Looks a lot like the raspberry pi 400 https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400/.

ianai 5y ago
Those don’t seem to sell well either-at least they’ve been available for purchase much longer and easier than the other models. Could be for a headset though.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  Well -- they obviously don't have quite as broad an application as the Pi 4 and Zero 2 have. You can't embed a Pi 400 in a robot, you wouldn't stick it on the side of a 3D printer, turn it into a streaming media player, etc. I suspect the Pi 400 sells better at specific times of the year -- at Christmas and when schools are spending their rare IT budgets. But it's also the first product of its kind from them.
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Yes. I wonder if this is about education. Essentially I think Apple have realised their new developer pipe is drying up; the devices are too expensive for hobbyists and they are vastly too expensive for almost all schools on earth. The Pi 400 is a wholly credible device in those markets; it solves a lot of the practicality issues of the earlier machines. A device with even an old style A14 or the M1 in an M2 future, tucked inside a keyboard, could be made viable for this market, I think, and it's seemed obvious to me for some time that the only reason Apple don't make the Apple TV into a general purpose education computing device is that they don't care about the market. If they've started to care about that market again, it's a good thing.
- em500 5y ago
  How do laptops without screens make any sense in schools, which are largely already deploying cheap laptops with screens?
  - sanjayio 5y ago
    I’m terms of user experience Apple is unparalleled. If I was a teacher and there was a cheap option to educate kids with less hands on from me, I’d go with that option in a heart beat.
  - ksec 5y ago
    Could be targeting library or desktop business uses cases? There is no reason why it cant be squeezed down to $299. Basically the iPad ( $329 ) without screen. Or more like with A14 but $399. Cool idea, the problem is I still dont understand where the target market are, the two above doesn't seems very Apple to me. There are ~700M business PC ( both laptop and desktop ), I would imagine this is attractive enough for Apple to make exception.
    - csunbird 5y ago
      or, just make ipad a proper handheld general purposed device that can be used for more sophisticated purposes, instead of crippling it.
- ta988 5y ago
  It is also because the developer experience on a mac is a disaster when you have to use docker (and can't do it in a VM).
- mcphage 5y ago
  > I think Apple have realised their new developer pipe is drying up Is this actually happening? New iOS apps seem to be coming along in a flood like usual.
smoyer 5y ago
I thought the same thing ... and wonder how Apple can possibly believe this is patentable.
- catfishx 5y ago
  So is Raspberry now violating Apples patents?
  - arghwhat 5y ago
    No, it is by definition impossible for an older product to ever violate a later patent, as a patent is invalid in the presence of prior art.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  I thought it was a design patent. It's full of very specific measurements. Design patents only protect key aspects of product design, they are more limited, and -- evidently like this one -- they're kept secret until they are granted. There's a good chance this device is actually going to happen. If it's not a design patent then they are really only claiming one or two small elements of this as innovation. Read any patent; they're all like this at some level.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    More notes in my other comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30467618 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30467618
  - Someone 5y ago
    Measurements and details (“a hinge foldable about an axis perpendicular to the rear-facing wall”, “a cross-sectional shape of the enclosure is triangular”) This is to protect (somewhat) against lookalikes. One interesting part is that they mention an inductive charging coil. Cursory reading didn’t tell me whether that’s for keeping a mouse charged or for charging the device.

ianai 5y ago

Those don’t seem to sell well either-at least they’ve been available for purchase much longer and easier than the other models. Could be for a headset though.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
Well -- they obviously don't have quite as broad an application as the Pi 4 and Zero 2 have. You can't embed a Pi 400 in a robot, you wouldn't stick it on the side of a 3D printer, turn it into a streaming media player, etc. I suspect the Pi 400 sells better at specific times of the year -- at Christmas and when schools are spending their rare IT budgets. But it's also the first product of its kind from them.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

Yes. I wonder if this is about education. Essentially I think Apple have realised their new developer pipe is drying up; the devices are too expensive for hobbyists and they are vastly too expensive for almost all schools on earth. The Pi 400 is a wholly credible device in those markets; it solves a lot of the practicality issues of the earlier machines. A device with even an old style A14 or the M1 in an M2 future, tucked inside a keyboard, could be made viable for this market, I think, and it's seemed obvious to me for some time that the only reason Apple don't make the Apple TV into a general purpose education computing device is that they don't care about the market. If they've started to care about that market again, it's a good thing.

em500 5y ago
How do laptops without screens make any sense in schools, which are largely already deploying cheap laptops with screens?
- sanjayio 5y ago
  I’m terms of user experience Apple is unparalleled. If I was a teacher and there was a cheap option to educate kids with less hands on from me, I’d go with that option in a heart beat.
- ksec 5y ago
  Could be targeting library or desktop business uses cases? There is no reason why it cant be squeezed down to $299. Basically the iPad ( $329 ) without screen. Or more like with A14 but $399. Cool idea, the problem is I still dont understand where the target market are, the two above doesn't seems very Apple to me. There are ~700M business PC ( both laptop and desktop ), I would imagine this is attractive enough for Apple to make exception.
  - csunbird 5y ago
    or, just make ipad a proper handheld general purposed device that can be used for more sophisticated purposes, instead of crippling it.
ta988 5y ago
It is also because the developer experience on a mac is a disaster when you have to use docker (and can't do it in a VM).
mcphage 5y ago
> I think Apple have realised their new developer pipe is drying up Is this actually happening? New iOS apps seem to be coming along in a flood like usual.

smoyer 5y ago

I thought the same thing ... and wonder how Apple can possibly believe this is patentable.

catfishx 5y ago
So is Raspberry now violating Apples patents?
- arghwhat 5y ago
  No, it is by definition impossible for an older product to ever violate a later patent, as a patent is invalid in the presence of prior art.
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
I thought it was a design patent. It's full of very specific measurements. Design patents only protect key aspects of product design, they are more limited, and -- evidently like this one -- they're kept secret until they are granted. There's a good chance this device is actually going to happen. If it's not a design patent then they are really only claiming one or two small elements of this as innovation. Read any patent; they're all like this at some level.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  More notes in my other comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30467618 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30467618
- Someone 5y ago
  Measurements and details (“a hinge foldable about an axis perpendicular to the rear-facing wall”, “a cross-sectional shape of the enclosure is triangular”) This is to protect (somewhat) against lookalikes. One interesting part is that they mention an inductive charging coil. Cursory reading didn’t tell me whether that’s for keeping a mouse charged or for charging the device.