Raspberry Pi Announces New $90 Computer in a Keyboard, Plus 'Raspberry Pi Monitor' (techcrunch.com) 57
"Single-board computer maker Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer-meet-keyboard device with better specifications..." reports TechCrunch.
They call the new $90 Raspberry Pi 500 "not as intimidating" because "when you look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you can't see any chipsets or printed circuit board... The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is that you can plug in a mouse and display, and you're ready to hit the ground running." When it comes to specifications, the Raspberry Pi 500 features a 64-bit quad-core Arm processor (the same one as the Raspberry Pi 5 uses); 8GB of RAM; 2 micro-HDMI ports, with support for up to two 4K displays; 3 traditional USB ports (but no USB-C besides the power port unfortunately); a Gigabit Ethernet port; and a 40-pin expansion header. It comes with native Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.
More importantly, this device brings us back Raspberry Pi's roots. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational use cases... The Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation's roots. It's the perfect first computer for school. In many ways, it's much better than a Chromebook or an iPad because it is both cheap and highly customizable — encouraging creative thinking. The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution...
In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced another brand-new product: the Raspberry Pi Monitor. It's a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor with a price-tag of $100.
Tom's Hardware calls the Pi 500 "a superb update" to the original computer-in-a-keyboard Raspberry Pi 400: Having the ports at the back makes total sense. It tidies up the cables, and means that we only need one thick edge, the rest can be as thin as possible... [P]assive cooling performance is remarkable, even when overclocked to 3 GHz...! I did have to adjust the voltage to keep everything stable, but once I found the magic numbers, the system was stable and performed remarkably well... [I]t ran buttery smooth and surprisingly, cool under stress. I'd consider this a successful overclock and one that I would happily keep as a permanent addition...
Just like the Raspberry Pi 400, the Pi 500 is there to be a 21st century equivalent to the home computers of the 1980s. You plug in to a wedge-shaped keyboard, hook up to your display, and start work. But the Raspberry Pi 500 has much more processing power than the Pi 400, and that means it can be a viable desktop computer for those that don't need an RTX 4090 or a power-hungry CPU.
I like the Raspberry Pi 500. It's a powerful machine, in a pleasant package. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s home computer craze, and this, just like the Pi 400, reminds me of that time. But now we have much more power... The Raspberry Pi 500 is the kit that you buy as a gift for someone, or as a child's first computer. I can see this being used in schools and to an extent in offices around the world.
They call the new $90 Raspberry Pi 500 "not as intimidating" because "when you look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you can't see any chipsets or printed circuit board... The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is that you can plug in a mouse and display, and you're ready to hit the ground running." When it comes to specifications, the Raspberry Pi 500 features a 64-bit quad-core Arm processor (the same one as the Raspberry Pi 5 uses); 8GB of RAM; 2 micro-HDMI ports, with support for up to two 4K displays; 3 traditional USB ports (but no USB-C besides the power port unfortunately); a Gigabit Ethernet port; and a 40-pin expansion header. It comes with native Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support.
More importantly, this device brings us back Raspberry Pi's roots. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational use cases... The Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the not-for-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation's roots. It's the perfect first computer for school. In many ways, it's much better than a Chromebook or an iPad because it is both cheap and highly customizable — encouraging creative thinking. The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution...
In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced another brand-new product: the Raspberry Pi Monitor. It's a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor with a price-tag of $100.
Tom's Hardware calls the Pi 500 "a superb update" to the original computer-in-a-keyboard Raspberry Pi 400: Having the ports at the back makes total sense. It tidies up the cables, and means that we only need one thick edge, the rest can be as thin as possible... [P]assive cooling performance is remarkable, even when overclocked to 3 GHz...! I did have to adjust the voltage to keep everything stable, but once I found the magic numbers, the system was stable and performed remarkably well... [I]t ran buttery smooth and surprisingly, cool under stress. I'd consider this a successful overclock and one that I would happily keep as a permanent addition...
Just like the Raspberry Pi 400, the Pi 500 is there to be a 21st century equivalent to the home computers of the 1980s. You plug in to a wedge-shaped keyboard, hook up to your display, and start work. But the Raspberry Pi 500 has much more processing power than the Pi 400, and that means it can be a viable desktop computer for those that don't need an RTX 4090 or a power-hungry CPU.
I like the Raspberry Pi 500. It's a powerful machine, in a pleasant package. I'm old enough to remember the 1980s home computer craze, and this, just like the Pi 400, reminds me of that time. But now we have much more power... The Raspberry Pi 500 is the kit that you buy as a gift for someone, or as a child's first computer. I can see this being used in schools and to an extent in offices around the world.
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Same feeling here. They should try again with a halfway decent keyboard with hotswap keyswitches as the basis. I got a Reddragon Devarajas for like $53, it has an aluminum case and pretty decent switches (supposedly rebranded outemu*) and when an LED failed they just sent me another one, so there must be plenty of profit built into that price.
* If anyone cares about this keyboard more than the rest of the comment: supposedly, using other than outemu switches can cause problems because the sockets are outemu
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I might be curious if it had a numeric keypad but clearly nor do they do arithmetic.
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The ones I know use voice chat on Discord to communicate with their friends. The typing part of the chat is just for pasting memes.
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If it's anything like the Pi 400, then it's not the worst keyboard I've used. I've had some cheap laptops that flexed terribly under their chiclet keyboard. I can at least type fast and it is a fairly light touch and at a slight tilt.
That said, I think I'd rather have a similarly priced Chromebook, but with a rpi-compatible IDC box header on it. But that's not likely to happen, despite seeming like a very STEM-friendly idea to me.
I went with a CM4 module in a DeskPi case and brought my own mechanical keyboa
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Good news, plug in your own keyboard (Score:3)
A chicklet keyboard.
Good news, you can plug in your own keyboard if you care.
Of you can buy their smaller regular case so you don't have to see any chipsets or printed circuit board, and plug in your own.
I have a friend with the previous RPi 4 version of this configuration. It's convenient when he has to take it on the road. At home he'll just ssh to it.
Unpopulated part (Score:4, Interesting)
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Easy to deploy as long as you got compatible network kit. I got only one PoE port.
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Brilliant (Score:5, Insightful)
This product really appeals to me.
You could put together a minimalist set up (Pi 500 + monitor using wireless mouse) and have a clean desk at a very reasonable price.
For people who use their computer for email and browsing it looks like a great option.
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no one cares what you think
I can't stress this enough. Someone cares and you know who it is? You. You spent the time to read, login and even click COWARD.
Quit lying. You care deeply.
we care a lot! (Score:1)
And it looks like a few people with mod points care, too.
Re: Brilliant (Score:1)
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>"Their post may not be worth an upvote"
I think it was just a single person posting, not more than one...
>"but I still find it interesting to see how other people view the use of this device, so I guess I for one cares what they think."
Yeah, I came to the comments to see what other people think about the machine. His/her comment was just as interesting to me as the others.
Not sure some peoples' obsession with trying to eliminate every cable, though. I actually prefer wired networking, and a wired ke
Re: Brilliant (Score:2)
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Yes, I could see that. Though you could take a small computer, attach it to the back of your monitor, and then use a wireless keyboard and mouse, and you have an even cleaner desktop. Plus, you can get a keyboard that you like (which is going to be very different for different people).
With the popularity of small computers, there really should be a mounting standard for monitors that doesn't conflict with the monitor stand. Ideally there should also be an option for the computer to be powered through the
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what? No, there is no clean desk with this setup
you need to power it, the monitor, and the HDMI cable for the monitor. that's 3 cables coming out of this keyboard thing
I know this, I had the model 400 a few years ago and it ...just sucked. Not hardware wise, but the fact that you need at minimum 2 wires.
For a clean desk, just go with wireless keyboard and mouse and a normal computer.
Re:Brilliant Historic Examples (Score:2)
Laptops are cheaper (Score:2)
You can buy a brand new Chromebook laptop for under $50. Reference: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ace... [walmart.com]
It will probably perform better too.
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Indeed. Or get that and a real microcontroller board in addition, like an Orange Pi.
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You're an idiot.
http://www.orangepi.org/orange... [orangepi.org]
Re:Laptops are cheaper (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think so, with an 8 year old Celeron?
I would expect the benchmarks to favour the Cortex-A76, twice as many cores and double the RAM.
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Last I checked a decent email/browsing Chromebook was going to cost $235'ish.
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You can buy a brand new Chromebook laptop for under $50. Reference: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ace... [walmart.com]
It will probably perform better too.
Your link refers to refurbished laptop:
About this item
Product details
This item is in good condition, showing signs of use from normal wear. It is backed by a 1 year warranty. It is fully functional and has been professionally refurbished, inspected and cleaned to good condition.
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OK, true. I missed that. My overall point that laptops are cheaper still stands though on weaker footing. The Raspberry pi desktop kit (with mouse/power supply) costs $120 and on top of that you need the monitor $100 .. total $220. There are a number of laptops cheaper than that.
Can't actually 'Buy' any Chromebook (Score:2)
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Linux on chromebooks is a shit show. Half the hardware works and you have to open up some models to enable reflashing, otherwise you'll be dual booting the already slow and limited eMMC drive.
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Linux on chromebooks is a shit show. Half the hardware works ...
Really? Chromebooks are hosted by Linux. I've used them as cheap Linux laptops because they'll have Linux compatible hardware. Unlike typical Windows PCs. Yes they were low spec and modest performing, but that was OK for their purpose.
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For $50 you can get a half-ounce of flower.
Get that instead, because you can have a lot of fun with the computer you probably already have.
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>"You can buy a brand new Chromebook laptop for under $50. Reference: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ace [walmart.com]... [walmart.com]"
Yes, but that is a USED machine, "this item[] showing signs of use from normal wear [] has been professionally refurbished" and with half the RAM, and the processor is probably not as fast. And you are stuck with an 11.6" monitor 1366x768.
At least it has storage- something the 500 doesn't, and isn't mentioned. And if stuck with just SD, that will hurt it a lot.
Actual price of the Acer i
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But it is not a PI.
Why this stupid comments? You can by a brand new BYD for 10% of the price of a Tesla ... but people want a Tesla, and the government wants you to buy a Tesla and hence taxes/tariffs BYDs ...
I took the liberty to click your link: it only has half the RAM, and is not an ARM ...
So? Just because something has 4 wheels it is all the same? No, it is not.
Get a real computer (Score:3, Funny)
The original mission of the RP is dead and never panned out. If you want a single board computer, get an Orange Pi or something like it that was designed by actual experts and not by the hacks at the RP foundation that are laughably inept.
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The original mission of the RP is dead and never panned out.
Wrong, you can get a $35 Raspberry Pi 4. That $35 Linux SBC is alive and well, letting students learn software and hardware.
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Sadly no M.2 connector. (Score:5, Insightful)
The latest RPi 5 is really great running off an M.2 or external USB-C SSD attached... every bit as good as a mainstream laptop/desktop for basic tasks. Running off a microSD is much less pleasant. You could still use an external USB drive with the Pi 500, but it would have cost so little to include an M.2 slot on this and would have made it so much nicer. Really poor decision-making from RPi.
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it has an unpopulated M2 connector and power supply; someone has already got it working. I assume they'll populate it in a minor spin.
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It's not that easy to get working because it's missing more than just the connector. Jeff Geerling has a video [youtube.com] about this. So I don't think this is something the average person could do, and Geerling seems to indicate that there are no plans to populate the M2 connector and power supply.
Re:Sadly no M.2 connector. (Score:4, Interesting)
That's exactly what I'm referring to, yes. Mind you I'm an EE so for someone like myself it is trivial to populate the connector, four 0402 or 0201 caps and rig up something to supply power. I find myself occasionally thinking "oh that's easy" without considering why it's easy for someone like myself.
Re: Sadly no M.2 connector. (Score:1)
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A user on Jeff Geerling's forum has got an SSD up and running, with an external power source and missing suspend functionality as yet.
It did require a microscope and soldering skills to fit some tiny capacitors, so it was indeed something the average tinkerer could not do.
I do expect there to be a more expensive Pi 500 with components populated in the future. ;) )
(will they call it the Pi 500+ in keeping with the Amiga references?
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Really poor decision-making from RPi.
Not really, they are trying to make a cheap system for students. They also sell a wired mouse for $8 and a power supply for $12. So $110 and bring your own monitor for an ARM base Linux single board computer, and embedded Linux platform.
Personally I'd suggest a regular Pi 5, case, and wired keyboard rather than this integrated version to get easier access to GPIO. Then again, maybe their integrated case has a slot to run out a GPIO connector cable?
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>"Not really, they are trying to make a cheap system for students"
But how much would it have cost them to actually populate the M.2 so it could be used? $4?
Slow and often unreliable SD storage will hurt it quite a lot. It is nice to have an SD option, but no M.2 is disappointing.
They offer M2 hats for regular Pi board (Score:2)
https://www.raspberrypi.com/pr... [raspberrypi.com]
If you have your own M2 they offer an empty M2 hatL
https://www.raspberrypi.com/pr... [raspberrypi.com]
And you can still mount an active cooler with these hats.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/pr... [raspberrypi.com]
The regular Pi5 board is for tinkerers, not this keyboard/CPU model.
GPIOs (was Re:Sadly no M.2 connector.) (Score:2)
Yes, they bring the GPIOs out to a port on the back.
I liked the red accent of the Pi 400 (Score:3)
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It's a nice base coat for painting camo patterns on your keyboard like in Hackers.
Look how far we have come. (Score:2)
This product and it's name - of course - quote the Amiga 500 and its predecessor, the C64. But look how far we've come. A personal computer that costs little more than a days worth of minimum wage, offers all the processing power a regular person would need and then some, runs on low power low voltage electricity and sports a massive stack of free open source software with everything anyone would ever want to tinker with including an ecessory port for automation and telemetry projects. And it's all a somewh
Name a reference to the Amiga 500? (Score:2)
The specs aren't great, though. Mini-HDMI and no USB-C? But they include an ethernet port few will use. Does it have external access to the SD card?
very cool (Score:2)