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Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

44 points by rcarmo 2y ago

mg 2y ago
No mention of the weight? If it is lightweight enough and could be powered by a table which at the same time functions as the monitor, this would be a dream. Finally a mobile Linux solution.
- ikurei 2y ago
  You mean tablet? Has that ever been done, having the tablet provide both power AND monitor to an external computer? Sounds a bit odd to me, specially considering the tablet is already a full computer. I love this form factor for its nostalgia, and because it's just cute, but it's wrong for almost all use cases.
  - spurgu 2y ago
    Yeah seems rather inefficient to power two computers but only use one.
  - mg 2y ago
    Yes, tablet. A new iPad with 13" would probably be the lightest external monitor with battery one can get. Sure, those are full computers but you can't run Linux on them.
jsheard 2y ago
That's unfortunate that they designed in an M.2 NVMe slot and then cut it to shave a few cents off the BOM.
- armada651 2y ago
  If they already designed the case and PCB to support it, perhaps another version that includes the cut features is in the works?
volemo 2y ago
It's a bummer they went with the micro HDMI ports despite the RPi 500 not being constrained in size like its SBC siblings (I mean, look at all that space to the right of the USB ports [1]). Also, I wonder what all those unpopulated pads around the Ethernet port [2] are? [1]: https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/d9cba3691df3889b1c905e3324c3a01d/21788/hero.webp https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/d9cba3691df3889b1c905e... [2]: https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/3f5c4569bdef13d9e0bcfce8d5e2d780/00863/disassembled.webp https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/3f5c4569bdef13d9e0bcfc...
- jsheard 2y ago
  The silkscreen says PoE so I guess the unpopulated components would be for that. PoE would be an odd addition for a keyboard computer though, maybe they intend to use the same PCB in something else?
  - rcarmo 2y ago
    Thin clients are a great use case for PoE. Think about a school environment. But yes, I suspect they will be using the PCB for something else. the NVMe takes too much space to be a "mistake".
TacticalCoder 2y ago
> "Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again" The old (sadly broken) ZX Spectrum, from 1984 or so, that sits on my desk as an ornament to remind me of that great era approves.
- aa-jv 2y ago
  Get that thing fixed, there's no excuses any more, geeze.
nottorp 2y ago
> Looking around the board, it is hard to miss that there is a large M.2 shaped space. A space that could accommodate up to 2280 sized NVMe SSDs, or even an AI accelerator but there is a catch. There is no connector. They really don't want to compete with regular desktops :(
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42364038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42364038

44 points by rcarmo 2y ago

mg 2y ago

No mention of the weight? If it is lightweight enough and could be powered by a table which at the same time functions as the monitor, this would be a dream. Finally a mobile Linux solution.

ikurei 2y ago
You mean tablet? Has that ever been done, having the tablet provide both power AND monitor to an external computer? Sounds a bit odd to me, specially considering the tablet is already a full computer. I love this form factor for its nostalgia, and because it's just cute, but it's wrong for almost all use cases.
- spurgu 2y ago
  Yeah seems rather inefficient to power two computers but only use one.
- mg 2y ago
  Yes, tablet. A new iPad with 13" would probably be the lightest external monitor with battery one can get. Sure, those are full computers but you can't run Linux on them.

jsheard 2y ago

That's unfortunate that they designed in an M.2 NVMe slot and then cut it to shave a few cents off the BOM.

armada651 2y ago
If they already designed the case and PCB to support it, perhaps another version that includes the cut features is in the works?

volemo 2y ago

It's a bummer they went with the micro HDMI ports despite the RPi 500 not being constrained in size like its SBC siblings (I mean, look at all that space to the right of the USB ports [1]). Also, I wonder what all those unpopulated pads around the Ethernet port [2] are? [1]: https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/d9cba3691df3889b1c905e3324c3a01d/21788/hero.webp https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/d9cba3691df3889b1c905e... [2]: https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/3f5c4569bdef13d9e0bcfce8d5e2d780/00863/disassembled.webp https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/3f5c4569bdef13d9e0bcfc...

jsheard 2y ago
The silkscreen says PoE so I guess the unpopulated components would be for that. PoE would be an odd addition for a keyboard computer though, maybe they intend to use the same PCB in something else?
- rcarmo 2y ago
  Thin clients are a great use case for PoE. Think about a school environment. But yes, I suspect they will be using the PCB for something else. the NVMe takes too much space to be a "mistake".

TacticalCoder 2y ago

> "Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again" The old (sadly broken) ZX Spectrum, from 1984 or so, that sits on my desk as an ornament to remind me of that great era approves.

aa-jv 2y ago
Get that thing fixed, there's no excuses any more, geeze.

nottorp 2y ago

> Looking around the board, it is hard to miss that there is a large M.2 shaped space. A space that could accommodate up to 2280 sized NVMe SSDs, or even an AI accelerator but there is a catch. There is no connector. They really don't want to compete with regular desktops :(

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42364038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42364038