The Raspberry Pi 400 is a compact keyboard with an ARM-based computer built in. It’s available starting today as a standalone machine for $ 70 or in a bundle including a mouse, power supply, microSD card, HDMI cable, and beginner’s guide for $ 100.

Pi 400’s form factor makes it more approachable and user-friendly. It looks more like a piece of consumer electronics than the basis for a DIY project.

Raspberry Pi 400’s form factor brought to mind early home computers like the BBC micro or ZX spectrum. They’re designed as accessible computers to help children learn to code.

‘the dream always with Raspberry Pi is to lure people into buying a PC and then trick them into becoming computer programmers,’ says Upton.’that’s what happened to me, I was lured to buying a BBC micro and then suddenly I became a software engineer,’ he says.

The Raspberry Pi 400 is a very similar computer to last year’s Raspberry Pi 4. There are a pair of micro HDMI ports that can each output up to 4K / 60Hz, two USB 3.0 ports, and a single USB 2.0 port. Power is provided via a USB-C port, there’s a microSD card slot for storage.

The Pi 400 computer is built into either a 78- or 79-key keyboard. It has a similar design to most compact laptop keyboards. There are additional versions for the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, and Japanese markets.

The Raspberry Pi 400s have been used as corporate desktop machines or for call center agents. Two monitors are the default for a lot of business users.

The Pi 400’s pink and white color scheme wo n’t be to every business’s tastes.’we’re going to need to make it in gray and black and it’s going to break our hearts,’ he jokes.

Apple is starting to switch its Mac computers to the architecture. The processors were largely considered too low-power for anything beyond phones and tablets. In a year when Apple’s Mac computers are starting to be switched, the future does n’t look so preposteroususususus.

In the longer term, the change should incentivize more developers to make or optimize their software to run better on arm.

The Raspberry Pi 400 is always going to be a Linux PC. It’s still an unfortunate barrier for many windows and Mac owners. For others, web browsing, email answering, and productivity tasks that the Pi 400 can perform may already be served just fine by a smartphone.

With a starting price of $ 70, the Raspberry Pi 400 is a lot less expensive than even the most budget handsets. It comes with a keyboard that’s big enough to do proper writing on.