Raspberry Pi Announces New $90 Computer in a Keyboard, Plus ‘Raspberry Pi Monitor’
“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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
“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.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.