Raspberry Pi 400 review / unboxing / setup. The new all in one Raspberry Pi.
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Raspberry Pi 400 review, unboxing and setup. The new all in one Raspberry Pi.
Being a big fan of Raspberry Pi, I went ahead and purchased the new Pi 400 computer in a keyboard.
I had been wondering when they were going to do something like this. There are many DIY projects bolting a Raspberry Pi to a keyboard or inside an old computer like a Commodore 64. Then there is Kano and Pi-Top who have been providing kit to turn your Pi into a desktop or laptop (I feel I should also mention the Fuze and their old BBC computer look-alike housing for the Pi).
In this video I unbox my Raspberry Pi 400, setup and give you my view (its positive). I've included some useful links at the bottom.
I'm sorry for some poor audio, dodgy lighting, grainy video and some flickering (when capturing the Raspberry Pi 400 on my TV): my filming equipment is old and basic. Hopefully you still enjoy the video. Thumbs up appreciated and I love comments / discussions.
- filmed with a Samsung DV150F camera
With the extra power of a variant of the Raspberry Pi 4, the Pi 400 packs plenty of punch with its 64 bit quad core processor running at 1.8Ghz (faster than the 1.5hz stock Pi 4).
- I have seen some hobbyists videos where a Raspberry Pi 400 has been clocked to 2.2 Ghz.
All said the extra punch out of the box does make the Pi 400 a plausible second computer or the main computer for a child.
From my testing (and its 4k playback capabilities) makes it also a contender for a TV media player.
My conclusion is overall very positive. This is the way forward: an all in one computer. However, I wish they pushed the design a little bit further taking inspiration (which they claim to have done) from the 80s computers: the Pi 400 is just a keyboard, it would have been nice if it felt like a computer (a bit bigger) like the Commodore 64, Vic 20, Oric, Dragon 32, Atari 800, Amstrad CPC, and of course Sinclair ZX Spectrum. So here goes, my positives (+) and negatives (-):
(+) all in one tidy design
(+) faster 1.8Ghz clock speed (vs Pi 4 at 1.5Ghz)
(+) kit box comes with a great manual
(+) can be a second computer or main one for a kid
(+) good passive cooling system
(+) price : kit £94/$100
(-) the bundles mouse is wired, bluetooth would have been better
(-) no GPIO ribbon cable in the kit box
(-) OS does not natively connect to a printer (criticism for OS)
(-) the first software update is very long
As I mentioned in the video, the Raspberry Pi 400 feels powerful enough that you could use it as a second computer or the main one for a young child. The Pi400 comes pre-installed with useful utilities like LibreOffice (for word processing, number crunching and presentations). However, initially you will not be able to print documents (which is one of my criticism of all Pi computers running the Raspbian OS), you will need to load some packages (and some could find complicated) in order to connect to your printer. Below are some webpage and CZcams links to help you:
- Raspberry Pi website: www.raspberrypi.org/blog/prin...
- HowToGeek website: www.howtogeek.com/169679/how-...
- CZcams Explaining Computers channel: • Raspberry Pi Printer S...
Other useful sites / additional resources for the Raspberry Pi400:
- The MagPi magazine specification and benchmark of Raspberry Pi 400: magpi.raspberrypi.org/article...
- The Raspberry foundation home page: www.raspberrypi.org
Can be purchased here:
- UK from the Pi Hut: thepihut.com/products/raspber...
- USA: www.cytron.io/p-raspberry-pi-...
If you want to see how they re-worked the Raspberry Pi 400 and fitted it into the Pi keyboard, see the following CZcams link for a great teardown video by Jeff Geerling:
- • The Raspberry Pi 400 T...
An alternative great review from explaining computers channel:
- • Raspberry Pi 400: New ...
Thanks for watching, tick and comment appreciated - NobleD TechNewOld
#RaspberryPi #Pi400 #RaspberryPi400 #RaspberryPi400Review
This wasn't designed to be primarily a makers computer. They have stated that there was a different use-case in mind. IMHO, the Raspberry Pi 400 is perfect for its intended use and price point.
Good video. Thanks for publishing it.
sure. It is evident from the design that is not a true makers computer, but all said it does have a GPIO access. All said, just stating what would be my preferred design. Who knows what they release in the future.
@@TechNewOld No problems. I get it. Carry on.
It seems clear that they are working to attract new users who might be worried by the electronics skill required to use the previous Python systems. This looks far more attractive to make it more of a workhorse PC for home use rather than a hobbyist use. it also fits for new small travel PC for students etc. I see the next model to have a monitor attachment option for laptop replacement.
Some good points there. The laptop format already exists see pi-top (expensive and I’m surprised not more people have tried to do this). I feel that basic windows laptops and chrome books will still be too popular (and have better functionality in the wider world) for their to be a seismic shift to PIs being adopted as fully fledged home computers.
@@TechNewOld I agree, but it's the direction I would go if I made Pi units. I also admit that my Rasperry although on my desk, is not used as often as my PC desktop as well obvious reasons.. so it presumably is those niche market sectors that are being focused on now.
@@Oceansteve I like the idea of using the pi as a desktop and I am sure many in poorer countries could do well out of these low powered (important) single board computers. When I tried I got unstuck trying to get the pi to print (cups).
Never seen someone opening a box. Thanks for that.
Glad useful . Good luck with your Pi400 if you get one.
@@TechNewOld They are not scarce here.
@@tremorist they were briefly scarce on release, but that has all settled down now and I agree plenty of supply
@@TechNewOld I'm typing this from my pi400.
@@tremorist proof that the pi400 can be used as a main computer .
Great video! I heard they made it look like that because they can reuse stuff from the official Pi keyboard.
Thanks for vote. Interesting! I guess that makes sense with Raspberry Pi Foundation being a charity and not profit driven, hence the $5 Pi 0 was possible. So they already had the keyboard moulds for casting, hence cheaper as you said to stick with this / re-use parts of old keyboard. Missed opportunity: Raspberry Pi Foundation are going to sell so many Pi 400s they should have been confident to be more adventurous with the design. However, all said the Pi 400 is great product and it will be interesting to see future revisions.
The foundation has stated that the keyboard Pi was in the works before the simple keyboard and mouse. It was originally planned as a Pi 3 but it wasn't powerful enough and the 4 was coming along, people would feel it was a downgrade, so they based it off of the Pi 4. The keyboard and mouse were actually designed and marketed as a result of needing a base for the coming Pi in a keyboard. So, it wasn't so they could reuse stuff from the the official Pi keyboard. The keyboard was for the Pi in a keyboard from the beginning. That's why it uses the official keyboard top and they are indeed interchangeable.
@@TechNewOld It's the other way round. The keyboard and mouse were designed and created for the future Raspberry Pi 400, per the Raspberry Pi Foundation. They weren't reusing anything as it was designed that way from the beginning.
@@hansoak3664 very interesting. I still would have liked to have seen something more computer like (based on my old 80s conception), but I am biased. For most, the design will be just right.
@@TechNewOld I definitely hear you. Although I have other Pis, this one was to scratch my nostalgia itch. For me, it has done that and then some. I am setting up a specific workstation for the Pi 400. I did not do that for any other Pi model. Christmas has come early for this older guy. :)
We need small, fanless, powerfull computers.
I agree. Pi can run fanless , but it is advisable to have a fan. Passive cooling solutions can be quite big / cumbersome. The mini heat sinks on Pi are just about Ok.
Cups uggh been there done that
CUPS or "common unix printing system" not the easiest thing to set up. I would hope in the near future the Raspberry Pi foundation develop a printing utility that works out of the box. This would help make the Pi 400 (or its future variant) a viable option to be the main kids computer and a very useful cost effective second computer. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUPS / www.cups.org)
This also exists as a standalone keyboard. What do you think of the typing experience? Can this be used for working/gaming like a compact keyboard? Or does it feel worse than a laptop keyboard?
I thought the quality was quite good. I was impressed / happy with it. It's hard to compare with laptop keyboards as there are good and bad. This is a compact keyboard so there are always limitations, but its focused on the pi experience. Gaming/desktop ... the experience is also going to be limited to the pi's abilities. The keyboard was good, not as good as my Apple compact keyboard. Hope that helps.
You need to change your camera frame rate. That strobing will trigger someone's epilepsy.
I certainly need to change the camera. I would hope someone who knows they are susceptible to fits would stop watching. I’ll put a warning up . Thanks for heads up.
Its all in one great but how much is this?😊
The full kit package (everything to get started) £94 in UK / $100 in US.
What is the flickering?
probably the refresh of the television and the camera don't match
My rubbish camera. The TV probably at 60 MHz frequency and my camera is not coping with it . Going forward I’m not sure how to solve .
@@robhuanout5443 thanks. If you have any suggestions ... makes my video look vary amateurish (which it is!)
The Raspberry Pi 400 will not flicker when you attach it to your TV. It is just my camera interacting with the TV. You will not be able to see that with your naked eye.