- Raspberry Pi releases new keyboard PC
- Inspired by 80s Tandy 1000 PC
- Raspberry Pi 500 is less than $100
The Raspberry Pi is already well-known for pushing the envelope in what makes a tiny and affordable computer. Now the manufacturer is reinventing itself again with the Raspberry Pi 500, an entire PC fitted into a keyboard that’s available now for purchase. Such an exciting and new idea right? It certainly is, though it’s not the first time this concept has been brought to fruition.
In 1984, 40 years ago, the Tandy 1000 was released by Tandy Corporation and based on IBM’s PCjr, which essentially fit most of the computer parts into the keyboard. The Tandy 1000 was successful in the consumer electronics market and spawned countless models until its eventual discontinuation in 1993.
It used the then-popular home-computer-style case with the keyboard, motherboard, and disk drives in one enclosure, which kept the design simple and prices much more affordable for the time. Despite this level of success, there wasn’t a proper follow-up to this particular model of computer, which is a shame since it was clearly ahead of its time.
In comes the Raspberry Pi 500, which is a complete PC wrapped up in a keyboard with a starting price of just $90 (about £70 / AU$141). It seems to take strong inspiration from the Tandy 1000 but upgrades the concept to its most convenient and affordable form.
The Raspberry Pi 500 is bringing retro back
It comes with a Quad-core 64-bit ARM processor, 8GB of RAM, two micro-HDMI ports, and three USB ports. If you don’t have a monitor, there’s a 15.6-inch portable Raspberry monitor for $100 (about £80 / AU$157).
It’s exciting to see the Tandy 1000-style tech make a comeback — as mini-PCs have already been making a huge splash in the industry thanks to their much smaller size footprint and very reasonable pricing. And it feels fitting that it would be under the Raspberry brand as it’s already well known for its compact PCs, like the Raspberry Pi CM5.
And for a price of less than $100, which is far cheaper than even the best Chromebooks and best cheap laptops on the market, it’s absolutely worth the price of entry. It’s compact form factor and approachable price tag is ideal for productivity work, as well as students looking for an affordable machine to get their homework and class projects done.
Hopefully, the Raspberry Pi 500 will inspire other manufacturers to put out their own version of a keyboard computer. My personal hope is seeing a retro-themed machine designed after the original Tandy 1000, as a tribute to the one that started it all is more than fitting.
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allisa.james@futurenet.com (Allisa James)
