Raspberry Pi Launches a $70 PC in a Keyboard

Taking a design cue from the Commodore and Amiga computers of the 1980s and 1990s, Raspberry Pi today announced a $70 PC in a keyboard form factor.

“Raspberry Pi has always been a PC company,” Raspberry Pi founder and CEO Eben Upton writes in the announcement post. “Inspired by the home computers of the 1980s, our mission is to put affordable, high-performance, programmable computers into the hands of people all over the world. And inspired by these classic PCs, here is Raspberry Pi 400: a complete personal computer, built into a compact keyboard.”

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Aside from its cute all-in-one form factor, the Raspberry Pi 400 is also the most powerful computer that the firm has ever shipped: It features a faster and cooler version of the Raspberry Pi 4 mini-computer board that shipped back in May, with 4 GB of RAM, integrated into a compact keyboard design.

Optionally, you can also purchase this system as part of a ready-to-go Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit for $100. This kit includes the Raspberry Pi 400 computer, the official Raspberry Pi USB mouse and USB-C power supply, an SD card with Raspberry Pi OS pre-installed, a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, and the official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide. That guide has been updated to a 4th edition that includes information specific to the Raspberry Pi 400.

How cool!

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Conversation 38 comments

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 8:26 am

    <p>I have enjoyed my raspberry pi 4 and it makes a cost effective internet terminal for the workshop where I may have a fair amount of debris and dust flying around. </p><p><br></p><p>great for … where is that YouTube video or PDF that show me how to do ….X…..</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 9:45 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590231">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>I use a couple of Pi 3s at home, for my Pi-Hole and as a backup for my Unifi CloudKey.</p>

      • jbinaz

        02 November, 2020 - 10:37 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590242">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>The pi-hole is a fantastic thing. Reduces my traffic by 1/3. The only problem is when it blocks something I don't want blocked an I don't realize it's the pi-hole blocking it.</p>

  • the escalation

    02 November, 2020 - 8:48 am

    <p>I don't need this. But I want this.</p>

    • solomonrex

      02 November, 2020 - 9:02 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590233">In reply to the escalation:</a></em></blockquote><p>So much this. It's a shame that there's no pointing device built-in. But it's so good otherwise.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        02 November, 2020 - 9:46 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590234">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>Just use the console, then you don't need a pointing device. ;-)</p>

      • F4IL

        02 November, 2020 - 10:58 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590234">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>Just install i3 or xmonad</p>

      • William Clark

        02 November, 2020 - 12:32 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590234">In reply to solomonrex:</a></em></blockquote><p>My understanding is a mouse comes with the kit.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          02 November, 2020 - 1:22 pm

          The article does say that.

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 1:38 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590233">In reply to the escalation:</a></em></blockquote><p>Same here. I'm really trying to think of some way to justify buying one of these, but having a hard time coming up with one.</p>

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 9:27 am

    <p>These are great devices. Not so much power but functional and even enough machines for a many people. </p>

  • obarthelemy

    02 November, 2020 - 9:42 am

    <p>"Taking a design cue from the Commodore and Amiga computers of the 1980s and 1990s,".</p><p>Nope, from Sinclair computers ! This looks like my Spectrum, and probably feels like my ZX-81, only with a simpler/slower keyboard ;-p</p><p><br></p><p>One good thing is the built-in cooler, the Pi4 has a significant heat issue and requires 3rd-party cooler. This makes the keyboard version almost free.</p><p><br></p><p>2 bad things: this is the 4GB version, hopefully the 8GB version which is in high demand will follow at some point; also, for an unfathomable reason they aren't wiring up the audio jack, which sound idiotic given the very sad state of monitors' built-in speakers. Hopefully your monitor will have a pass-through jack.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 9:52 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590239">In reply to obarthelemy:</a></em></blockquote><p>To me, it looks more like an Oric, which was slanted and had the forerunner of chicklet keys. Or an Acorn Atom. But, yes, not very much like an Amiga or Vic=20 or C64.</p>

    • rm

      02 November, 2020 - 11:55 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590239">In reply to obarthelemy:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, I still have my Sinclair ZX81, I haven't turned it on in decades. My Vic 20 and Commodore 64 both looked closer to this one. But all are computers with keyboard built in.</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 1:37 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590239">In reply to obarthelemy:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think it looks more like a Commodore VIC-20 or 64 than the other "computer in a keyboard" designs of the time, which is probably why Paul referenced it. Apple and Atari both pre-dated either Sinclair or Commodore with this type of form factor, though. </p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 9:43 am

    <p><em>Taking a design cue from the Commodore and Amiga</em></p><p>It looks a lot more like an Oric to me. Or an Acorn Atom or the first Acorn Archimedes (the first ever PC to use the ARM chip).</p><p>Personally, I'd love it to use the case from the Memotech MTX, lovely black, brushed aluminium case and a decent keyboard. I love that design. (For an extra 5 nerd points, it was used in the film Wierd Science)</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 11:49 am

    <p>Definitely a nice way to package up the Pi. Just got my Pi 4 board yesterday. Can't wait to play around with it some with my son.</p>

  • crunchyfrog

    02 November, 2020 - 11:56 am

    <p>Now that's clever! I like the concept a lot instead of having to piece it all together. Only issue I see is the limited RAM, small keyboard size and it's not listed on Amazon.</p>

    • proftheory

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 1:20 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590269">In reply to crunchyfrog:</a></em></blockquote><p>Us old timers remember when limited RAM meant it only came with 2KB then upgraded to 16KB.</p>

      • crunchyfrog

        03 November, 2020 - 1:29 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#590295"><em>In reply to proftheory:</em></a><em> You got me on that. My first computer was an Amiga that had 512KB if I recall.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • bluvg

    02 November, 2020 - 12:22 pm

    <p>The kit also matches the price I paid for my C64. Ah, simpler times. </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      02 November, 2020 - 1:22 pm

      The Commodore 64 launched at $599, so this must have been quite some time into its run.

      • bluvg

        02 November, 2020 - 1:52 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590299">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I thought it was $99 in the Sears catalog at the time, but I could be wrong. You're right, it was a ways into its run, as the 128 was in the same catalog. It was a bummer programming on it initially, since I couldn't afford any peripherals besides the RF modulator to hook it up to the TV. Turn off the power and lose the program. :)</p><p><br></p><p>I have some fond memories of the C64 (mostly games, little bit of GEOS), but I have far fonder memories of the Amiga 500. I do not miss my slowwwwww and expensive-to-operate Okimate thermal printer, though the output was impressive at the time.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          03 November, 2020 - 8:38 am

          The price absolutely came down over time. I’m sure the C64C launched at $99 or $149 tops. I can’t even find this information for some reason.

          Was also a fan/user of GEOS. Amazing.

  • rmlounsbury

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 1:13 pm

    <p>I'm absolutely going to pick up one of these to tinker with. I've never actually had a Raspberry Pi before since I haven't had any specific use cases for it. If nothing else I can pair this up with my ThinkVision screen for casual tinkering with the Raspberry Pi OS or even grab the Ubuntu distro built for Pi to dabble in that space as well. </p><p><br></p><p>If nothing else, as noted, this is a really great and cheap way for a kids to have their own computer that they can start learning basic coding skills if they are interested. </p>

  • ronh

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 1:49 pm

    <p>Looks nice, but I would like to see what it looks like with all the cables and a monitor plugged in to get it up and running. It may make a mess of your desktop space.</p><p><br></p><p>It should have a trackpad built in as well…</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 4:08 pm

    <p>The 4GB model i believe is the minimum to run Windows 10, which can be done via a community project.</p>

  • sekim

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 4:20 pm

    <p>I came here to say that the concept made me nostalgic for my Amiga 500, but saw I was beat to that punch in the first sentence of the article.</p>

  • rfeeley

    02 November, 2020 - 6:03 pm

    <p>This will sell, for same Reason Vic20 and Commodore 64 became best selling computers ever. Compact, self-contained, with everything you need. $100 is impulse price. Perfect for all, but especially needed by low to middle income students right now.</p>

  • kjb434

    Premium Member
    02 November, 2020 - 9:56 pm

    <p>I have a Raspberry Pi is use as a Pi-Hole (all purpose DNS blocker) device. Seriously, if you ever needed a reason to play with a Raspberry Pi, look into Pi-Hole.</p><p><br></p><p>This keyboard Pi would be a great way to upgrade. </p><p><br></p><p>If the Edge Chromium browser for Linux was ready, I would consider this being an alternative to a Chromebook. </p>

    • halap3n0

      03 November, 2020 - 5:20 am

      <blockquote><a href="#590378"><em>In reply to kjb434:</em></a><em> breaks all google ad links and shopping, which makes it pretty annoying to use.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

      • sekim

        Premium Member
        03 November, 2020 - 9:39 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590433">In reply to halap3n0:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's kind of the point!</p>

      • jbinaz

        03 November, 2020 - 10:14 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#590433">In reply to halap3n0:</a></em></blockquote><p>My wife has learned to not click the result that says "ad" and scroll a little further down to the same link without the ad. </p>

  • crisp

    03 November, 2020 - 2:54 am

    <p>There was a Windows 10 IoT for Raspberry up to 3 and then an Insider version… how long until someone is running Win10 and .net apps on this? Over to you Paul…</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      03 November, 2020 - 8:27 am

      Yeah, given that the RP4 is now powerful enough to run real Windows 10 and can come with 8 GB of RAM, I’d love to see that happen officially.

  • lightbody

    03 November, 2020 - 3:52 am

    <p>Given that its British, its much closer in inspiration to the famous ZX Spectrum – which was also an "everything in the keyboard" design.</p>

  • retcable

    Premium Member
    03 November, 2020 - 6:20 am

    <p>Luckily it does have a GPIO connector on the back, but my HifiBerry DAC2-HD card is going to look a bit odd at a 90 degree angle when plugged into it. Oh well, it will be worth it to have the great audio those little things are capable of putting out. And the whole Raspberry Pi situation is getting better now that Ubuntu has released an official version of their OS for the RPi4.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 November, 2020 - 2:10 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#590437">In reply to retcable:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is an adapter available, so you can lay it flat.</p>

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