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Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers. It is widely used in many areas because of its low cost, modularity, and open design. It is typically used by computer and electronic hobbyists.
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Raspberry Pi 500+ boasts a high-quality mechanical keyboard with removable keycaps and individually addressable RGB LEDs, an internal M.2 socket pre-fitted with a 256GB Raspberry Pi SSD, and 16GB of RAM.
'member when Raspberry Pis were like twenty-five bucks?
I just said the same thing, got a couple 1ghz quad core I use with an old version of RetroPi, think they were $35 when I got em
The good thing about the raspberry pi is that it costed less than 30€. At 200 it's no longer a tinkerer toy.
yeah, like I always liked the Pi as essentially an arduino and easier way to spit stuff out to a screen, and native wifi. As they evolved some of the micro-pc stuff was cool for hosting a few services, but why do they keep pushing into the mini-pc sphere.
I guess I get that this is an expansion of the Pi-5, and that does kind of make sense for those who want it, but it seems like they're going to lose the plot in one of these generations soon.
This is a cool piece of tech but I can't really think of real world use cases besides looking cool and having that weird but cool computer-in-keyboard retro vibe. I had the same idea with the 400.
Maybe the best use would be some sort of super portable thin client, but looks very capable to be just that. Having a battery would have made sense too, for portability. Any out of the box way of connecting it to a smartphone screen would be great too, even if it's just tty.
Maybe I'm just being obtuse and just want a laptop, but the whole thing seems impractical to me.
I think when they're just a bit faster (like twice as fast) they'll be viable as a desktop computer for most people which is pretty cool.
If I had one I'd probably dedicate it to emulation.
But I have a MiSTer for that, so...
I can do emulation with a regular keyboardless rpi connected to my tv. You want portable emulation? I do that with a gpi case, and runs on batteries! This weird desktop approach is what doesn't make any sense to me.
I could stream a beefier PC to it with sunshine/moonlight maybe and use it as some kind of really light desktop, but still, why would I do that and not just have the beefier PC in said desk.
Define "ultimate"
Pis are neat, but they're not particularly great at anything, and they in fact suck at most things. They're toys except maybe for some very specific use cases (for which anyone reading this doesn't fall under).
You can find something more powerful and useful for $200. Just buy a used laptop, and you even get a battery, screen, and touchpad (neither of which come with the pi)
Ultimate?? And this certainly shows what they were up to when they left the M2 slot out of the original Pi 500. I'm sure it helps.
I have a 400 and it's a cool machine but its web browser is unusably slow. This new thing will be better but is will still be slow compared to a basic x86 board.
Interesting about the mechanical keyboard and I wonder if maintenance is possible. With the 400, there is no way to replace the keyboard when it wears out.
The lack of a pointing device is a big error imho. You end up needing a mouse or other thing needing a surface to put it on. Not so good for using on your lap.
Even with my 400, I generally used an external USB trackpad keyboard. So I think this 500+ ($200) has to be compared with a Pi 5 ($132 with 16GB and already overpriced) plus a keyboard and M2 drive. A Pi 5 with 2GB is $50 and a 16gb ddr4 sodimm (which won't fit in a pi) is about $40, so there is a gap somewhere.
shows what they were up to when they left the M2 slot out of the original Pi 500. I’m sure it helps.
Likely the issue was that the board layout as is. Did not allow for the current 400 case to take the M2 slot in a way that users could have easy access.
While you and Def I. May not worry about having to unclip the case. For a company selling mainly as an educational product. (Dispite that no longer being their main market).
The cost and time for case mods of that level. Likely made this option much more logical.
Many guess something like this was the next stage. Keyboard is a real nice suprise though.
Likely the issue was that the board layout as is. Did not allow for the current 400 case to take the M2 slot in a way that users could have easy access.
The 500 case (no idea about 400) could accomodate the M2 drive and some people installed their own.
It's also weird that the 500+ comes with a 256GB drive with no 512GB offered (maybe they will offer that later).
Still, for $200 you can get a decent X86 laptop, so this $200 rpi is niche.
400 and 500 case are identical E. It is not the space. But the fact that opening the case is not considered a user task.
The 500plus has bolts to open the case rather then the having to deal with breakable clips. The 400 and 500 case need a little more width and completelly new injection moulding to do that.
As I made clear in my post. What you and I are willing to do. Vs what a corporation is willing to sell as maintainable are different.SSD and storage in general has consumer expected requirement to be replaceable. Hence why every laptop etc has easy covers for upgrade.
Doing that requires a whole new case with now injection moulding machines and factory lines etc.
Oh that is kind of interesting about clips vs bolts. But, they really should have modified the 500 case as needed to add a slot for the SSD. I don't want to spend 2x more just to get that slot. Oh well, if I go this route I'll just get a pi 5. It looks like memory upgrade is a huge pain though, and 16gb upgrade is not known to work. People have upgraded to 8gb though.
If you know anyone with a 3£ printer near by. And some time with a craft knife.
Would be pretty darn easy to cut the slot in the case. And print a plastic cover that clips in.
As you said plenty on line to add your own M2 and the power circuits to support it.
Likely will be more soon with the plus to look at.
Personally. I have a 40p and a 500 so will wait a few months and see what happens. But I will likely go for that keyboard eventually.
Would be pretty darn easy to cut the slot in the case. And print a plastic cover that clips in.
You have to do a bunch of SMT soldering to add the circuitry, doesn't seem worth the hassle, especially since I wouldn't use the 500's built-in keyboard anyway. I wish it had included a pointing device like every laptop has. Using a separate mouse means you also need a desk to put it on, which is constraining. So I think I'd get a pi 5 and external keyboard if I wanted to stay with Pi stuff. There isn't that much attraction though.
...why is there no normal HDMI port?
I don't see a good view of the row of ports, but on my 400 there's quite a bit there between the HAT, USBs, micro SD, etc. My guess is that full HDMI would cause some space issues
there are tons of images of the thing on their store page, including of the pcb, which is entirely custom.
Just looked it up, and I think my point is correct. You could get about one regular HDMI port in the space they used for the two micro ones. And that row of stuff seems kinda full
they have full control of the size of the pcb. they could have made it a cm wider.
Lots of design considerations to be made there. When they can easily include a micro-full HDMI cord and adapters and stuff are easy to come by, it's not a horrible compromise IMO.
no, it is, because micro-hdmi is a real brittle connector. you need to be careful when moving a pi4 and up because the cables are heavy and stiff and the connectors are tiiiny.