$240?!?!?! For that price the build quality needs to be MUCH better with at least speakers and a battery. This looks like a $100 product to me. Thanks for the review.
Exactly! This will always just be a hobbyist product. But in real-world use, there's no way you could justify paying the money for this when you could buy a complete Chromebook for less. Not to mention, Chromebooks support Linux programs now too.
Raspberry pi has never been the product for "getting things done" or being a cheap productivity device. It has always been a hobbyists, tinkering device and will always be that way. There's no competition between this and a chrome book, because they are not competitors
@@andrewgoss1682 The product in question here isn't the Pi itself. Rather it's this "skin" which costs more than a Chromebook, and doesn't even come with the Pi.
This needs three things: a battery, speakers and an IO passthrough board to hide the wires and make everything look clean. These would be so easy to do and would make this product PERFECT. SOMEONE GET ON THAT PROJECT
@@winstonsmith478 I could see this easily being more expensive than a cheap chromebook or whatever due to not having economies of scale. But yeah, it really needs to have that battery and speaker. Hell, just the speaker would be a huge difference, not having a speaker makes it already a failure as a dock in my mind.
Yeah without a battery the laptop form factor is pointless. A small tv and mouse is way less money. This is just an ugly tower computer if you gotta plug it in and into speakers 😂
I almost like it. If it gets cheap enough I might get one. But without a battery built in it sorta kills it for me. Very close to being something that I would've really loved.
@@hellsing56666 Dang. For being a 1080p screen and a crappy touchpad in a flimsy plastic enclosure it shouldn't be more than like £120. I personally wouldn't pay more than £80 but also don't have a need for this (who does though?). Anyone would be better off with a mouse and portable monitor.
@@hellsing56666 You know it's very close. I can't tell if the screen would be worth it mind you, but I struggle find a portable display of a similar price in my area anyway. I think a neat 200$ would be something I'd be interested in this product. Though, I'd want to make something to have the cables be a bit neater. Edit: To make it clear, I would still find it a bit over priced. But my interest would go... "oh?"
Vilros also made that "wedge" keyboard case, and this is honestly a theme with them and their more bespoke options. I desperately want them to be good, and they always look good at first glance. Then you see that they're kind of expensive, so you may think well that just means there's something to this. Nope. They're overpriced and underdeliver. The wedge case is just a wireless keyboard glued into a shell, you still have to use a dongle, batteries, and turn the keyboard on and off using an easily breakable removable panel. So seeing this thing be 80% of what it aught to be and fail to deliver is on-brand for them at this point. And it's the most tragic thing ever because they could absolutely be dominating this segment of the market.
I was really digging the idea up to the point I realized this has no battery in it. Shame. A couple of 18650 holders and a charging circuit would have costed peanuts. Also the lack of speakers are a turnoff. On the upside I think I can 3D print something similar myself just from the parts bin in the garage. I even have a pretty big trackpad left over from a Dell XPS 15.
Yyou seem as some one who knows what he is talking about, you know with linux and raspberry it is open source, you are really really free to make that idea of your happen.
Really strange product that I see no use case for in it's current form. This is basically a laptop shell, with a screen. Laptops are great but awful at the same time. They offer portability at the cost of ergonomics (Amongst other things) Docks offer the chance to take a portable device and turn in into a more traditional tower PC, normally offering additional connectivity (USB, Ethernet, HDMI, etc) This offers none of the benefits of a laptop nor a dock. So who are they targeting with this? $240 (ON SALE!?) is crazy. You can easily buy a brand new Chromebook at that price.
What a nice idea. Shame it's so poorly implemented. But 12v tethered, no battery or speakers... really can't see the point especially at that price. Just buy your preferred screen and 3d print a hinged enclosure for it, a battery pack and the Pi400. If the home made solution is still way better than the commercial product, they've got work to do.
ETA you should try modding this to have a rechargeable battery in the keyboard, and speakers inside the laptop case. And showing it working and how to do it. ..This way any hobbiest still on the fence, could mod they're own to make this perfect!
as for the lack of audio, it could be solved with bluetooth headphones, but the lack of battery is the real Achilles heel of this product. I still hope that someone is able to create such a 17-inch 1080p product with attached speaker, battery and pci to connect an ssd but with the raspberry compute module 4 to replace my secondary laptop.
Creates a refreshing perspective on that latest Walmart cheap laptop video you've made, wasn't so bad after all. But at least you can add a fan to this thing.
Was going to say this! That said, I guess a CM4 would be a better choice, but seeing how short in supply they are, I'd happily tear apart one of the 400s I have (which has a terrible keyboard, unlike the first one which is great!) and try to make a decent laptop... well, if I had the skill, anyway(!)
So close to hitting the mark! Wonder if we will see other companies take a stab at this now and hopefully include a battery, speakers, some more side IO etc.
I like the concept but it is very weird that this is using the Pi 400 instead of actually building it to take a Pi CM4 module instead. And the speakers and battery as well but if your concept is a plug an play computer just do a screen that houses the CM4 modules much more conveniently and you've got a tablet or small laptop ready to go.
It's such a great idea but it's executed so half way. More quality components, speakers, battery and just a little more thought into the design and this could be well worth the current price
@@paulstubbs7678 for most people Pi only makes sense when it is cheap. For 350~400$ (PiDock + Pi400 + external battery + speakers) there are plenty of much more powerful options for a portable PC - new entry-mid-level laptops (so with an actual SSD and CPU, not that terrifying 64GB eMMC models based on old Celerons) or even more powerful second hand market laptops. This feels cheap and isn't as versatile as 50$ more expensive alternatives (NexDock etc.) that include speakers and battery - so why bother?
Yeah, I’d not buy this thing but it DOES give me some vision as to what I could build on my own. I like the use of the Pi400 instead of the 4B. Clever.
The price definitely would put me off. Seems like a cheaper, 3D printed unit (I'm sure it's not) that would run $100 or so. Still, love the concept and hope the company continues to work on the overall build quality/features!
All I want is a raspberry pi 400 with a battery and a small screen. I wish someone would make a replacement keyboard and case with mechanical switches with a battery and small screen. I've seen some cool 3d printed designs, but I want to be able to test prototypes on the go. I don't want to have to hack something together and constantly worry about it breaking. If I have to build all of this, I might as well use the CM4.
Don’t know why the PI foundation haven’t focused on making a laptop like this, but with speakers, a bootable SSD and battery. School children need affordable robust laptops they can take around with them, to school, friends houses etc. As good as the PI is it’s not portable so can’t be used as a primary computer that all children can afford, which is sort of what the PI is meant to be. It’s too late now but in the lockdown when schools were closed an affordable PI laptop would have been really useful.
This is a really clunky setup. Like a half baked demo. Definitely a no buy until it is a lot more refined! $240?? For this! They are out their minds!!! Plastic case. With a semi decent 13 inch monitor. That’s all this is basically.
Hey Prime how do you feel about those usb c to 12v barrel jack utilizing the pd for a 12v feed? It looks like there are cables for your battery (specifically 12v only ) and others that work with a pd standard. Dont know if we are there yet but there are a lot of screens and such that use 12v. To make them that portable with just a cable and something you already have would be awesome and would maybe open up the maker scene a little too.
@@ETAPRIME ohoo, you replied but yea true, bluetooth is always a higher risk of delay and lag. Since the audio is taken from HDMI by this method its fine but yea, extra cable is annoying
The Raspberry pi itself you can get for a reasonable price. However, setup like this Pi dock 400+Pi400= $100+$240=340. Add speakers or headphones+battery and the price is too high in my humble opinion. Heck, I might rather start looking for a simple laptop instead...
Being slightly pedantic, you could [have] reduce[d] the cost to $310 if you're buying a 400 specifically for this case (as this comes with all cables, get the standalone 400 unit for $70) but otherwise agreed (difficulty obtaining the Pi units notwithstanding). The 400 at least in my opinion and use case makes a great "portable desktop" (for lack of a better term) where you can take it with you and connect it to displays at various locations, but the extra pieces needed to "laptop-ify" (or even "tablet-ify") a 400/4/CM4 seem to get pricier than a comparable equivalent device...
Yeah some speakers in the clamshell would have been nice running off the HDMI maybe? The Pi 400 does have bluetooth so couldn't you connect to a bluetooth speaker or headset and get rid of the wire.
I think as a base unit it's okay, but having options for battery, speakers, ssd slot ... they could have had space for all of these things and sold them as add ons ... kinda lame though with this as the whole complete unit.
Wow, it’s a neat idea, but they didn’t even call it in, they told it to someone else and they called it in. They could have made it a bit better and even put in a compartment to add a battery pack.
Excellent video and review. This is the product everyone wants. 2 main features missing: sound and power. That was a bad move. So, let me get this straight; its a 13" no-touch monitor ($125) and a mouse/trakpad ($15), though the price is around $250? Exactly who are they kidding? That is insane. This was not a very good attempt, being it is missing the options that provides its actual purpose. It's a lot easier to take your money and just throw it in the street. I am so glad I saw this video first.🙂
Yeah, at this point it might as well be a notebook dock with a battery. Then it might as well be a notebook for a rpi4. Is the keyboard really that great on the 400 to justify this?
They're of varying quality, if my own and others' experiences are anything to go by (have two, the first one's keyboard is lovely, the second one is terrible and doesn't register some key presses). Same apparently for the official keyboard, apparently... What I'd prefer to see is something like a Nexdock which takes CM4s, or is otherwise properly integrated - I'm struggling to see the point of this over a portable display...
I could be wrong, but I think ETA Prime believes that it should have come with a 🔊 or maybe even 🔊 🔊. Just playing, fabulous video and review as always.
There is a good point for me : I'm french, I use an AZERTY keyboard, so I can use my PI400 in AZERTY layout with this things. But It need at least enough room for a battery and an amp with speacker. And why 12V ? 5V USB-C is a standard.
This product in a nutshell is, let's sell you the idea of converting your Raspberry Pi into a laptop, ask a price close to a new entry-level laptop and then not even give you the basic features of sound and battery that you would expect of buying a laptop.
Reminds me of the Nexdock products that turn a Dex enabled phone into a laptop. They have a battery, pass through charging and touch sensitivity, all for a similar amount to this dock without those extras. This looks fun but definitely a gen 1 product.
With the right USB powerbank you could rig it's own power supply in without having to drop it out of USB, you do need to find a powerbank that is willing to feed out power while also plugged in for charging.
you know...if you really wanted to...this could be turned into a cool lapdock for dex. You'd have to get a keyboard and probably usbc pcb board to connect everything.
What would of been nice is forgo the keyboard console and just mount the Raspberry Pi unit right into the "laptop" with it's own easily removable keyboard. This would've left room for adding and swapping all sorts of components. Which from an educational and hobbyist point of view, would be great fun.
Yeah, $300 MSRP for a screen and touchpad is incredibly steep, and even if it were less expensive the features lack a reason for this to exist. The direction is good, but it feels half-assed, y'know. The fact that the advertise the included cables as a feature to "give you an edge toward building up any type of digital control" really shows that they were reaching to even fill their product page with content.
Is there enough room inside of the Lap Top to put some speakers 🔊 inside of it? am gonna do some more research too see if I can put speakers inside and a power pack!. Bluetooth JBL the smallest one use for it if speaker's don,t fit inside.
Port passthrough on its back would have been a superb addition, i have an old PS2 screen that bolted onto the back and even fed the PS2 power from itsself, this woulda been ideal for this as well as all the other ports. As mentioned by all, a battery would have been great, some cheapo speakers under the monitor display, basically anything that makes it more feature complete and makes it not look cheap as heck. The idea of it is superb tho, amazed theres not more "plug it in and off you go" type netbook/laptop cases built for the PI400, its made for it tbh. All that empty space inside as well, you could probably shove an SSD inside as well.
I was just looking through the information on this video and saw your mailing address is in Wake Forest. I had no idea you were in NC!! That's awesome!!
Great review, I did not know it did not have sound. I wanted one but a little less now. I knew it didn't have a battery but maybe they should add both in a 2.0 because for the price, it's a bit over priced for what it lacks in my opinion. You are nearly in it $400 by the time you get dock + pi. That can get you an actual laptop that does more. So the price doesn't seem right to me.
I want speakers a trak ball and touch monitor. Battery sounds good too but I have a power bank for it so it's not necessary. I probably will get it though.
Can't remember if I ever commented on this one (too lazy to look) but if the creators of this thing ever come by the comment section, the basic reaction to the price is that you can shove it.
It's like soooooo close to be existing, but the fact you can't have a battery inside the case and that Pi400 doesn't stay in place... It's a pass unfortunately. Still going to wait for something like this, but just a bit better.
Good review. Without speakers, especially, I don't see the point here. It's also bordering on dishonesty for them to sell it like a laptop but require it be plugged in all the time.
So while this is really cool and the closest thing to a raspberry pi laptop, it's just a bit too much money. I just watched another video where someone put a screen on it and here's what I found. I found a cyberdeck hat with the Hyperpixel screen and at current prices, it keeps it below $200 with screen and Pi 400 together. The best thing the product in the video going for it is it's the best portable screen so far, I think... I'll need to look at everything available right now. However, I still think if throwing a screen on can be done for way less.
I gave up on Linux desktop long time ago because of performance issues and its lack of flexibility. I tried it again this week on a 4gb Raspberry Pi 4b but its very slow and frustrating to use. I really wanted it to work for me bu it fails in so many level too many issues to list.
$240?!?!?! For that price the build quality needs to be MUCH better with at least speakers and a battery. This looks like a $100 product to me. Thanks for the review.
I know right? It costs the same as low-end laptops out there, including some X86 machines. And those have all the things missing in this "dock".
240? Nah man. You can literally get a better laptop for less money. And you can add gpio pins using an adapter.
This is ridiculous price for a device that essentially does the same thing as a 50$ portable monitor.
i’d rather get the raspad at that price.
It is the priceof injectuion moulding Molds..
Insane price. There are Chromebooks for less, with the actual system, battery and speakers included.
Exactly!
This will always just be a hobbyist product. But in real-world use, there's no way you could justify paying the money for this when you could buy a complete Chromebook for less.
Not to mention, Chromebooks support Linux programs now too.
Raspberry pi has never been the product for "getting things done" or being a cheap productivity device. It has always been a hobbyists, tinkering device and will always be that way. There's no competition between this and a chrome book, because they are not competitors
@@andrewgoss1682 The product in question here isn't the Pi itself. Rather it's this "skin" which costs more than a Chromebook, and doesn't even come with the Pi.
@@igortroy I agree; I really don't know who this product is for.
bruh, chromebooks have google spying on you and you cant install other os on them
This needs three things: a battery, speakers and an IO passthrough board to hide the wires and make everything look clean. These would be so easy to do and would make this product PERFECT.
SOMEONE GET ON THAT PROJECT
It's already $240. You can buy far more powerful actual laptops for that.
@@winstonsmith478 I could see this easily being more expensive than a cheap chromebook or whatever due to not having economies of scale. But yeah, it really needs to have that battery and speaker. Hell, just the speaker would be a huge difference, not having a speaker makes it already a failure as a dock in my mind.
Agree!
yeah why even make it a laptop form factor, could be more compact if its just a screen and trackpad
Yeah without a battery the laptop form factor is pointless. A small tv and mouse is way less money.
This is just an ugly tower computer if you gotta plug it in and into speakers 😂
I almost like it. If it gets cheap enough I might get one. But without a battery built in it sorta kills it for me. Very close to being something that I would've really loved.
It is listed at 240$ on their website. Cheap enough for you?
@@hellsing56666 Dang. For being a 1080p screen and a crappy touchpad in a flimsy plastic enclosure it shouldn't be more than like £120. I personally wouldn't pay more than £80 but also don't have a need for this (who does though?). Anyone would be better off with a mouse and portable monitor.
@@someonesomewhere8658 I got 2 minutes into this and knew I wouldn't spend more than 100usd on this perhaps even less. Doest look great.
I wouldn't spend more then $50 for this
for $50 I can get apple macbook with definitely better screen and built in battery
@@hellsing56666 You know it's very close. I can't tell if the screen would be worth it mind you, but I struggle find a portable display of a similar price in my area anyway.
I think a neat 200$ would be something I'd be interested in this product. Though, I'd want to make something to have the cables be a bit neater.
Edit: To make it clear, I would still find it a bit over priced. But my interest would go... "oh?"
A battery, speakers, larger track pad and some better IO would have made this a god tier product.
Vilros also made that "wedge" keyboard case, and this is honestly a theme with them and their more bespoke options. I desperately want them to be good, and they always look good at first glance. Then you see that they're kind of expensive, so you may think well that just means there's something to this.
Nope. They're overpriced and underdeliver. The wedge case is just a wireless keyboard glued into a shell, you still have to use a dongle, batteries, and turn the keyboard on and off using an easily breakable removable panel.
So seeing this thing be 80% of what it aught to be and fail to deliver is on-brand for them at this point. And it's the most tragic thing ever because they could absolutely be dominating this segment of the market.
And a different colour that white is atrocious
I was really digging the idea up to the point I realized this has no battery in it. Shame. A couple of 18650 holders and a charging circuit would have costed peanuts. Also the lack of speakers are a turnoff. On the upside I think I can 3D print something similar myself just from the parts bin in the garage. I even have a pretty big trackpad left over from a Dell XPS 15.
Alternately a battery pack like shown but with a mains input transformer built in, so you could run if on or off the mains power.
Yyou seem as some one who knows what he is talking about, you know with linux and raspberry it is open source, you are really really free to make that idea of your happen.
Cool
I bought the pi 400 and legit yesterday told my brother it would be mad cool if they made a laptop doc for it.
Really strange product that I see no use case for in it's current form. This is basically a laptop shell, with a screen.
Laptops are great but awful at the same time. They offer portability at the cost of ergonomics (Amongst other things)
Docks offer the chance to take a portable device and turn in into a more traditional tower PC, normally offering additional connectivity (USB, Ethernet, HDMI, etc)
This offers none of the benefits of a laptop nor a dock. So who are they targeting with this? $240 (ON SALE!?) is crazy. You can easily buy a brand new Chromebook at that price.
What a nice idea. Shame it's so poorly implemented. But 12v tethered, no battery or speakers... really can't see the point especially at that price. Just buy your preferred screen and 3d print a hinged enclosure for it, a battery pack and the Pi400. If the home made solution is still way better than the commercial product, they've got work to do.
Its cool, but I agree with the reviews on the site, its way to expensive for what it is...
Pi 400 as an Amiga Pi in laptop form, that’s what dreams are made of
Something like this with a battery and sound, turning the PI 400 or a regular Raspberry Pi into a laptop sounds pretty interesting.
be a great thing to reverse engineer, and then 3d print. for the cost, it's lacking too much.
Camera, Speakers, Microphone and battery would have made it a perfect choice for online learning and most light computing laptops.
Damn bro raspberry pi 400 is rlly cool
I don't know when this happened, but you have been my favorite reviewer for a long time because of the emulation content
ETA you should try modding this to have a rechargeable battery in the keyboard, and speakers inside the laptop case. And showing it working and how to do it. ..This way any hobbiest still on the fence, could mod they're own to make this perfect!
Never mind the rest of the problems, you should send it back for that dead pixel in the middle of the screen alone.
Thank you, I thought I was the only one who noticed it. It was driving me crazy waiting for him to mention it
A great idea but missing some key features. Build quality also looks very cheap. Hopefully something similar with a battery and sound will come along.
So... its just a all in one now with no speakers
as for the lack of audio, it could be solved with bluetooth headphones, but the lack of battery is the real Achilles heel of this product. I still hope that someone is able to create such a 17-inch 1080p product with attached speaker, battery and pci to connect an ssd but with the raspberry compute module 4 to replace my secondary laptop.
Creates a refreshing perspective on that latest Walmart cheap laptop video you've made, wasn't so bad after all. But at least you can add a fan to this thing.
It would be neat to install the pi 400 board into a dedicated laptop setup. This looked cool at first but it's basically just a monitor
Was going to say this! That said, I guess a CM4 would be a better choice, but seeing how short in supply they are, I'd happily tear apart one of the 400s I have (which has a terrible keyboard, unlike the first one which is great!) and try to make a decent laptop... well, if I had the skill, anyway(!)
So close to hitting the mark! Wonder if we will see other companies take a stab at this now and hopefully include a battery, speakers, some more side IO etc.
Would make more sense to build a laptop around a CM4
Many of those portable monitors on Amazon have speakers, too. This feels like the first prototype of a product demo.
Seems like neat idea, however it's a bummer they didn't include a battery to make it even more portable... At least it has an IPS screen
this mostly just seems like a solid step towards something actually usable. not worth getting, but future products inspired by this could be great
That screen where the keyboard is would make sense to me. (Building my own.)
I like the concept but it is very weird that this is using the Pi 400 instead of actually building it to take a Pi CM4 module instead. And the speakers and battery as well but if your concept is a plug an play computer just do a screen that houses the CM4 modules much more conveniently and you've got a tablet or small laptop ready to go.
They obviously simply want to get better profit. They would've needed to make more components for that...thing. It's cash grab 💰
They didn't even make an adapter back plate for pi400. Obviously too much profit maximization
Idea - active headphone + speaker in one headphone should work. Look for such a product or a small usb adapter speaker
Good idea but it feels unfinished like a prototype. Maybe they will improve on the design or maybe another company will. Nice video thanks!
Agreed. I'll pass and wait
Niche, low volume manufactured products are always expensive. We should be surprised how cheap normal laptops are not how pricy this is.
How much longer we need to wait for a decent Raspberry Pi laptop?
It's such a great idea but it's executed so half way. More quality components, speakers, battery and just a little more thought into the design and this could be well worth the current price
Man, compared to any lapdock device this seems like such a bad value :(
Only really of value for a usage case that must have a pi in there
@@paulstubbs7678 for most people Pi only makes sense when it is cheap. For 350~400$ (PiDock + Pi400 + external battery + speakers) there are plenty of much more powerful options for a portable PC - new entry-mid-level laptops (so with an actual SSD and CPU, not that terrifying 64GB eMMC models based on old Celerons) or even more powerful second hand market laptops.
This feels cheap and isn't as versatile as 50$ more expensive alternatives (NexDock etc.) that include speakers and battery - so why bother?
Vilros seems to keep hitting the fence with their offerings. A track pad and speakers would've knocked this out of the park. Still pretty cool
Finally, an oversized enclosure to put my oversized enclosure for my Raspberry Pi into!
Yeah, I’d not buy this thing but it DOES give me some vision as to what I could build on my own. I like the use of the Pi400 instead of the 4B. Clever.
The price definitely would put me off. Seems like a cheaper, 3D printed unit (I'm sure it's not) that would run $100 or so. Still, love the concept and hope the company continues to work on the overall build quality/features!
Vilros has this way of doing bad implentations of basically good ideas
All I want is a raspberry pi 400 with a battery and a small screen. I wish someone would make a replacement keyboard and case with mechanical switches with a battery and small screen. I've seen some cool 3d printed designs, but I want to be able to test prototypes on the go. I don't want to have to hack something together and constantly worry about it breaking. If I have to build all of this, I might as well use the CM4.
if you think about it you just put 2 covers on a pi 4 you could then just install a 12v battery on the second case then you get a laptop
Don’t know why the PI foundation haven’t focused on making a laptop like this, but with speakers, a bootable SSD and battery. School children need affordable robust laptops they can take around with them, to school, friends houses etc. As good as the PI is it’s not portable so can’t be used as a primary computer that all children can afford, which is sort of what the PI is meant to be. It’s too late now but in the lockdown when schools were closed an affordable PI laptop would have been really useful.
Not sold. I'm more interested in CM form factor based RPi laptops like the one from waveshare. Seems a lot more proper as a laptop to me.
I Kinda think that this is built how it is on purpose so everyone could just build up on it.
"Ill take 'Far too gimmicky even for a Pi' for $500 Alex."
My minds telling me yes, but my wallet, my wallets telling me *absolutely not*
I would've liked it more if it had a back cover where the pi 400 is pushed in to it's pins rather than those cables.
This is a really clunky setup. Like a half baked demo. Definitely a no buy until it is a lot more refined! $240?? For this! They are out their minds!!! Plastic case. With a semi decent 13 inch monitor. That’s all this is basically.
@@phonewithoutquestion80 wow. Half baked idea indeed!
Hey Prime how do you feel about those usb c to 12v barrel jack utilizing the pd for a 12v feed? It looks like there are cables for your battery (specifically 12v only ) and others that work with a pd standard. Dont know if we are there yet but there are a lot of screens and such that use 12v. To make them that portable with just a cable and something you already have would be awesome and would maybe open up the maker scene a little too.
9:02 Raspi also can connect to bluetooth speakers/headphones xD
I’ve always run into audio lag with Bluetooth and Emulation on the pi
@@ETAPRIME ohoo, you replied but yea true, bluetooth is always a higher risk of delay and lag.
Since the audio is taken from HDMI by this method its fine but yea, extra cable is annoying
Lack of a battery and speakers is a deal killer? Why, why why would they forego those critical elements?
I think the 'fan' spot could easily be a speaker upgrade.
The Raspberry pi itself you can get for a reasonable price. However, setup like this Pi dock 400+Pi400= $100+$240=340. Add speakers or headphones+battery and the price is too high in my humble opinion. Heck, I might rather start looking for a simple laptop instead...
Being slightly pedantic, you could [have] reduce[d] the cost to $310 if you're buying a 400 specifically for this case (as this comes with all cables, get the standalone 400 unit for $70) but otherwise agreed (difficulty obtaining the Pi units notwithstanding).
The 400 at least in my opinion and use case makes a great "portable desktop" (for lack of a better term) where you can take it with you and connect it to displays at various locations, but the extra pieces needed to "laptop-ify" (or even "tablet-ify") a 400/4/CM4 seem to get pricier than a comparable equivalent device...
Yeah some speakers in the clamshell would have been nice running off the HDMI maybe? The Pi 400 does have bluetooth so couldn't you connect to a bluetooth speaker or headset and get rid of the wire.
I think as a base unit it's okay, but having options for battery, speakers, ssd slot ... they could have had space for all of these things and sold them as add ons ... kinda lame though with this as the whole complete unit.
I've seen some speakers that are powered by USB no plug in the wall needed
Wow, it’s a neat idea, but they didn’t even call it in, they told it to someone else and they called it in. They could have made it a bit better and even put in a compartment to add a battery pack.
Excellent video and review. This is the product everyone wants. 2 main features missing: sound and power. That was a bad move. So, let me get this straight; its a 13" no-touch monitor ($125) and a mouse/trakpad ($15), though the price is around $250? Exactly who are they kidding? That is insane. This was not a very good attempt, being it is missing the options that provides its actual purpose. It's a lot easier to take your money and just throw it in the street. I am so glad I saw this video first.🙂
Yeah, at this point it might as well be a notebook dock with a battery. Then it might as well be a notebook for a rpi4. Is the keyboard really that great on the 400 to justify this?
They're of varying quality, if my own and others' experiences are anything to go by (have two, the first one's keyboard is lovely, the second one is terrible and doesn't register some key presses). Same apparently for the official keyboard, apparently...
What I'd prefer to see is something like a Nexdock which takes CM4s, or is otherwise properly integrated - I'm struggling to see the point of this over a portable display...
I could be wrong, but I think ETA Prime believes that it should have come with a 🔊 or maybe even 🔊 🔊. Just playing, fabulous video and review as always.
Support the homies. First*
That's a brilliant idea.
There is a good point for me : I'm french, I use an AZERTY keyboard, so I can use my PI400 in AZERTY layout with this things. But It need at least enough room for a battery and an amp with speacker. And why 12V ? 5V USB-C is a standard.
Perfect thing to copy and 3D print. Then customize with batteries and speakers.
This product in a nutshell is, let's sell you the idea of converting your Raspberry Pi into a laptop, ask a price close to a new entry-level laptop and then not even give you the basic features of sound and battery that you would expect of buying a laptop.
This would make a great portable Pimiga everyone!
This is exactly what I wanted
Reminds me of the Nexdock products that turn a Dex enabled phone into a laptop. They have a battery, pass through charging and touch sensitivity, all for a similar amount to this dock without those extras. This looks fun but definitely a gen 1 product.
Damn only up 12 mins and I am only number 17! This man’s vids get some serious views!
With the right USB powerbank you could rig it's own power supply in without having to drop it out of USB, you do need to find a powerbank that is willing to feed out power while also plugged in for charging.
you know...if you really wanted to...this could be turned into a cool lapdock for dex. You'd have to get a keyboard and probably usbc pcb board to connect everything.
I agree the latch mechanism could have been reworked, and def. could have used a small speaker. Hard to justify this IMO.
Let’s see a CM4 based laptop guys
Kinda glad this sold out so quick on vilros when I first looked at it!
It would’ve been nice if the internal cavity of the case was deeper to allow mounting of usb ssds, power banks or the many raspberry pi dacs
Lack of speakers and battery is a dealbreaker.
Maybe in V2. And a lower price. Maybe $199.
What would of been nice is forgo the keyboard console and just mount the Raspberry Pi unit right into the "laptop" with it's own easily removable keyboard. This would've left room for adding and swapping all sorts of components. Which from an educational and hobbyist point of view, would be great fun.
Yeah, $300 MSRP for a screen and touchpad is incredibly steep, and even if it were less expensive the features lack a reason for this to exist. The direction is good, but it feels half-assed, y'know. The fact that the advertise the included cables as a feature to "give you an edge toward building up any type of digital control" really shows that they were reaching to even fill their product page with content.
Is there enough room inside of the Lap Top to put some speakers 🔊 inside of it? am gonna do some more research too see if I can put speakers inside and a power pack!. Bluetooth JBL the smallest one use for it if speaker's don,t fit inside.
Port passthrough on its back would have been a superb addition, i have an old PS2 screen that bolted onto the back and even fed the PS2 power from itsself, this woulda been ideal for this as well as all the other ports.
As mentioned by all, a battery would have been great, some cheapo speakers under the monitor display, basically anything that makes it more feature complete and makes it not look cheap as heck. The idea of it is superb tho, amazed theres not more "plug it in and off you go" type netbook/laptop cases built for the PI400, its made for it tbh.
All that empty space inside as well, you could probably shove an SSD inside as well.
At this price, there won't be many takers. Too bad, because the idea is great
I was just looking through the information on this video and saw your mailing address is in Wake Forest. I had no idea you were in NC!! That's awesome!!
Great review, I did not know it did not have sound. I wanted one but a little less now. I knew it didn't have a battery but maybe they should add both in a 2.0 because for the price, it's a bit over priced for what it lacks in my opinion. You are nearly in it $400 by the time you get dock + pi. That can get you an actual laptop that does more. So the price doesn't seem right to me.
Looks like some impressive RUclips playback! I’ve struggled with this lately on RPiOS so it’s nice to see the RPi foundation is working on it.
Gotta enable hardware acceleration in chrome://flags
and turn off Compositor in sudo raspi-config, Advanced Options
It certainly open to adding those speakers and that battery yourself. Yes.
I want speakers a trak ball and touch monitor. Battery sounds good too but I have a power bank for it so it's not necessary. I probably will get it though.
That's too bad, I was not expecting all those cables in the back
Can't remember if I ever commented on this one (too lazy to look) but if the creators of this thing ever come by the comment section, the basic reaction to the price is that you can shove it.
I need you to post an amazon link for the battery you mentioned. I want one. Ty
I'd want a battery pack that connects to the gpio pins for that price.
ETA Prime gets likes for making a video 👍👍👍👍
Here's hoping they make a full laptop version. And get the price down.
It's like soooooo close to be existing, but the fact you can't have a battery inside the case and that Pi400 doesn't stay in place... It's a pass unfortunately. Still going to wait for something like this, but just a bit better.
Good review. Without speakers, especially, I don't see the point here. It's also bordering on dishonesty for them to sell it like a laptop but require it be plugged in all the time.
So while this is really cool and the closest thing to a raspberry pi laptop, it's just a bit too much money. I just watched another video where someone put a screen on it and here's what I found.
I found a cyberdeck hat with the Hyperpixel screen and at current prices, it keeps it below $200 with screen and Pi 400 together. The best thing the product in the video going for it is it's the best portable screen so far, I think... I'll need to look at everything available right now. However, I still think if throwing a screen on can be done for way less.
Asus portable 16” monitor the one I have has good built in speakers 🔊
What would you pay for a chromebook shell with no cpu, memory, storage space or battery?
I gave up on Linux desktop long time ago because of performance issues and its lack of flexibility. I tried it again this week on a 4gb Raspberry Pi 4b but its very slow and frustrating to use. I really wanted it to work for me bu it fails in so many level too many issues to list.