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Hardware

The Verdict After Hackaday's Teardown of a Raspberry Pi 400: 'Very, Very Slick' (hackaday.com) 71

Posted by EditorDavid from the easy-as-Pi dept.
"You can't send Hackaday a piece of gear without us taking it apart," warns an article shared by Slashdot reader beggarwoman.

Hackady's verdict? The new Raspberry Pi 400 "is very, very slick." Inside, there's a flat-flex that connects the keyboard, and you see that big aluminum heat sink. It's almost the full size of the keyboard, and it's thick and heat-taped to the CPU. You know it means business. It's also right up against the aluminum bottom of the keyboard, suggesting it could get radiative help that way, and maybe keep your fingers warm in the winter. (I didn't feel any actual heat, but it's gotta go somewhere, right? There are also vents in the underside of the case.)

Four PZ1 screws and a little bit of courage to unstick the pad get you underneath the heat spreader to find, surprise!, a Raspberry Pi 4. This was a little anticlimactic, as I've just spent a couple weeks looking over the schematics for my review of the new Compute Module 4, and it's just exactly what you'd expect. It's a Raspberry Pi 4, with all the ports broken out, inside a nice keyboard, with a beefy heat spreader. Ethernet magnetics sit on one side, and the wireless module sits on the other. That's it!
"[C]ombine this with a small touch screen, and run it all off of a 5 V power pack, and you've got a ton of portable computing in a very small package.

"If you're not mousing around all the time anyway, there's a certain streamlined simplicity here that's mighty tempting."
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The Verdict After Hackaday's Teardown of a Raspberry Pi 400: 'Very, Very Slick' More

The Verdict After Hackaday's Teardown of a Raspberry Pi 400: 'Very, Very Slick'

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  • New, But 1980s (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BrendaEM ( 871664 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @12:06PM (#60699350) Homepage
    The mass-produced re-envisioned keyboard computer has been a long time in coming. There is a fairly large retro-computing community, with dozens of popular YouTube channels, such as 8-Bit guy, Retromancave, and Adian's computer basement. Most of the computers they work on are keyboard computers, just like most computers from the 1980s. If you are an older Gen-x'er, you grew up with a keyboard computer. The Commodore 64 is back in production as well, though I still miss my Color Computer 3. Perhaps RP they will make a version with a mechanical keyboard.

  • Hand warmers (Score:3)

    by nickovs ( 115935 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @12:11PM (#60699372)

    It's also right up against the aluminum bottom of the keyboard, suggesting it could get radiative help that way, and maybe keep your fingers warm in the winter.

    Having grown up just outside Cambridge, UK (the home of the Raspberry Pi), where it is common for winter days to be 1C/34F with 95% humidity, I can honestly say that as a kid I would have greatly appreciated having a heater in my keyboard!

    • Re:Hand warmers (Score:5, Funny)

      by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @12:53PM (#60699550)

      If it's 1C outside, it's not winter.

      Signed,
      Canadians.

      • Re:Hand warmers (Score:5, Funny)

        by kenai_alpenglow ( 2709587 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @01:37PM (#60699686)
        If it's below 25C outside, yes it is. Signed, Floridians.

      • *cries in German*

        (It is consistently more than 5 degree C too hot around here these past years. And that is compared to my childhood memories of the 80. Not those of grandpa. A few days ago it was 21 deg C where 5-10 would be normal.)

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by troon ( 724114 )
        I had a conversation with a Muscovite who was visiting the UK shortly after their mid-2000s really cold spell (like -40 deg-doesn't-matter), and he told me that British prolonged damp just-above-freezing is subjectively colder than anything he'd experienced.

        • Wich is true.
          -30C is no problem if the air is dry, which it usually is at that temperature. It gets uncomfortable if it is to windy. But e.g. sitting in a T-Shirt in the sun, with your jacket behind your back in the chair in a wind save corner is very pleasant. And for skying downhill, your have your sky glasses :P

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Retron ( 577778 )

          I had a very similar conversation whole visiting Yellowstone a few years back - stopped off at the only coffee shop that was open. The owner came over, said hello, noticed I was from the UK and asked the usual "do you live near London" question. As it happens, I do, I said, mentioning I live in Kent. He replied saying he visited in 1987 (during a very cold winter for us) and said the humidity made the -7C or so during the day feel bitterly cold... colder than the (dry) -40C he gets in Yellowstone.

          I thought

      • 1ÂC/34ÂF? That's time for a short-sleeve shirt and a leisurely stroll in the garden. --Minnesotans

    • Wait, don't you have radiators over there? Or floor heating? Hell, or insulation?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by nickovs ( 115935 )

        Wait, don't you have radiators over there? Or floor heating? Hell, or insulation?

        Many but not all homes in the UK had radiators back in the 80s, and insulation did become popular in the 1970s (about a hundred years after our house was built), but I just had parents who'd say "put another sweater on".

  • I understand that it is a engineering problem that had to be fixed, but it is kind of like focusing on the Mac Pro liquid cooling rather that benchmark, or the fact you have a faster truck because it has smoke stacks.

    • Yeah, my thinkpad has copper heat distribution, aluminum isn't even that exciting.

      • Re:So, a big heat sink (Score:5, Funny)

        by NewtonsLaw ( 409638 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @01:58PM (#60699740)

        Yeah, my thinkpad has copper heat distribution, aluminum isn't even that exciting.

        It is to gallium :-)

        • Melts in your hand... or if your hand happens to be aluminum, melts your hand. Mercury has a similar behavior in which it invades the structure of aluminum if there's even the tiniest break in the passivation layer, forming an amalgam. I've never had the opportunity to work/play with either, but time lapses of aluminum cans crumbling under their own weight amuse me greatly.

    • Well, generally yes, but in the case of Macs: no.

      Of all the things you could have used as an argument... Macs are actually known to have such bad cooling that their powerful CPUs throttle to mid-range CPUs basically without interruption. So better cooling would actually literally give those more benchmark power!

      Of course you are in general right, and that is only an Apple problem, and only to us, who confuse what is clearly jewellery for computers. ;)

      • That is completely wrong. There were a few laptops with heat/cooling problems.
        Most certainly not a desktop/tower.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Putting the computer into the keyboard is a remarkably stupid idea. Instead of one or two very low bandwidth connections for the keyboard and mouse, which can easily be made wireless, you then have to run at least power and a display connection to the desktop, plus all peripheral connections. Even the promo pictures already have a rats nest of cables in them. This has all the drawbacks of a laptop but none of the advantages. If feels like everybody is fawning over the emperor's new clothes. Dude's butt-nake

    • If you want a separtae computer/keyboard setup then just bu an RPi4

      This is a brilliant bit of kit and even though I have a room full of PCs and several Raspberry Pi SBCs, I'll be buying one because it's just so damned convenenient.

      Horses for courses... it won't suit everyone but that doesn't mean it's bad.

    • Exactly. We want MODULARITY!
      Not ridiculous permutations of monolithic integration for the Memberberries.
      We're not hipsters, after all.

    • It does have the advantage over a laptop that you can use a regular monitor or TV for a screen, instead of having to hunch over a laptop. Sure, you can hook a regular monitor up to a laptop too, but then you can't use the keyboard without the laptop's screen getting in the way. Once you've set the laptop aside and hooked up an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, you might as well just have a desktop.

      Personally, I don't think the wires running to the keyboard are that big of a deal if you don't need to

    • Putting the computer into the keyboard is a remarkably stupid idea.

      That's basically a laptop, right?

    • I was preparing to argue to the point of this comment, based on the title I set ...

      Then I started looking at laptop pricing. You can get a brand new laptop for under $200.
      You can almost certainly get a second hand one for about $100, many even $70.

      Yep, the OP is right - this is about nostalgia - but heck, why not?
      It's a bit of fun.

  • sigh (Score:2)

    by Revek ( 133289 )
    Now I've spent $240.00 bucks today.

  • You now, those things that ThinkPads have.
    Would have removed the absolute need for a mouse or a trackpad. Especially since for CLI work, you rarely need one anyway.

    • Warning! Post contains advocacy for the most controversial pointing device ever created. Reader discretion advised. Seriously, of all pointing methods I'm aware of, it seems to foster the most absolute proclamations of love and hatred. I don't think I've ever heard someone say "it's just ok". /sarc

      Whatever you call it (my favorite uncouth moniker is 'clit mouse'), a strain gauge is a wonderfully simple means of implementing a pointing device. Barring extreme trauma, I've never had one fail. Much as I perso
  • connector access. When I play with pi's to build stuff, the raw board is light and basically held in place by all the cables I am attaching to it. This package is heavier, so it might make a better prototyping package. The down side I see is as I discovered recently with a project, the pi-3 has some weirdness where a PIR gets triggered by the pi's wifi sometimes. So if I prototype with this and switch to a raw package, I might be surprised by a glitch.

  • A computer-in-a-keyboard for $70.00 But mine cost $80.00 in 1982 dollars, so I guess they've come down a bit.

  • The micro HDMI needs you to buy a dongle to use, and this dongle is not available in retail stores , because no phones support this.
    Why not use a common standard, like one standard HDMI, second screen on USB-c ??
    really crazy futile design.
    Staying with the raspi 3.

    • Yeah... that has to be the most bone-headed decision of the Pi4. Brought one of mine with me to help troubleshooting some new equipment, and I forgot the damn monitor cable... depite having a full assortment of other cables at the remote location. It is really a stupid, oddball connector. I understand there was some legitimate reason they could not include USB-C/Display Port, but boy does it suck. I have partially switched to using a NUC instead for this type of project so I don’t have to fight wi
    • The micro hdmi is definitely a boneheaded move on the Pi 400. The full size hdmi would have probably served as sturdier for use on a keyboard that may be used in schools that will probably see a lot of movement and rough handling by kids. There is no reason they couldn't done full size ports on the pi 400. Slide the GPIO and microsd slot down a little to one side, eliminate the useless kensington lock port and side the rest of the ports down a little further the rest of the way. That kensington lock port is

    • Every generation of Raspberry Pi has one major boneheaded move. It's the grand tradition of British engineering.

  • I think the overall layout of the PI 400 is fantastic, but I would have loved to see a integrated (removable battery). This is the only think stopping me from combining this with a battery powered display for a more flexible mobile computer experience. Has anyone seen any aftermarket mods for the p-400? Would especially love to see this as a mechanical keyboard/removable battery combo.

  • The RPi foundation, /allready make an 8GB Raspberry Pi'/
    This device, can be used as a 'basic desktop replacement' although it's not really intended as such for certain.

    Why on earth, would they use the 4GB Pi internally for the Pi which is /clearly/ intended to be used as a computer?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Sneftel ( 15416 )

      To give them room to maneuver.

      If the 400 sells like crazy, they release an 8 GB model at a higher price to benefit from market segmentation (and likely kill off the 4 GB model soon after).

      If it doesn't sell well, they instead bump the base model to 8 GB for free (not like the RAM is a major part of their BOM anyway) and get back in the news again.

      • Id say at this point the're selling pretty well. As of later in the launch day, of the official resellers, all of them were on backorder for the kits or standalone except for canakit which still had some of the standalone ones left. I actually managed to catch the flood of review videos that started popping up on youtube early last monday morning. I for the 1st time ever managed to get my hands on a piece of raspberry pi hardware on launch day at actual MSRP prices, unlike most of the other pi launches wher
    • I would also imagine there isn't much stopping someone from getting their hands on the same or compatible 8gb ram chip used on the pi4, and taking a hot air gun to their pi 400 and making an 8gb variant.

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