the Pi-Top kit gives you everything you need to turn the $35 computer into a laptop.
At $299 - including the Pi 3 - the build-your-own-laptop kit obviously adds to the cost of board. However, beyond just turning the Pi a mobile computer, the Pi-Top is designed to ease the novice user into tinkering with software and hardware. This user-friendly ethos is evident throughout the Pi-Top, in both its customised OS and its simple to slot together components....
...Once completed the laptop is certainly striking. With a fluorescent green finish, the injection-moulded plastic case draws the eye and is sturdy enough to withstand knocks on the move....
...I don't think I would want to use the Pi-Top as a general-use laptop, primarily due to its keyboard. While the Pi-Top is a 13.3" laptop, the keyboard is squashed into a slightly smaller space to make room for a trackpad on its right.
When typing I found myself hitting the wrong keys due to the cramped layout, as well as certain keystrokes not registering. These difficulties diminished as I became more familiar with the smaller and slightly flimsy keys - and you can remap the keyboard layout - but if I'm honest I never felt completely comfortable typing on it. ..
...If all you want is a cheap and portable general-purpose PC then you can get a higher-specced Chromebook for the same money...
...However, to criticise the laptop for not measuring up to the best general-use PCs is also to miss the point of machine, which is to build on the Raspberry Pi Foundation's mission to inspire kids and adults to tinker with and learn about computers....
...To teach users how to put these programming tools to good use the pi-topOS, like the Raspbian OS it's based upon, includes links to the official Raspberry Pi Foundation magazine and teaching resources, which offer a host of tutorials on software programming and how to get started on building hardware....
...There is also space for dropping in your own circuit board for building prototype electronics - which can be controlled from the Pi-Top....
...To me this is where the Pi-Top's strength lies. It's not so much a general-purpose PC as it's a tinkerer's toolkit, which takes the moddability of the Pi and makes it mobile....
...Specs
Screen
13.3" HD LCD screen with eDP interface
1366x768 resolution
Colour active matrix TFT LCD module with anti-glare finish
3W power consumption
PWM screen dim control (available on PCB rail)
60Hz refresh rate
262K colours
eDP 1.2 interface
Base Top
Keyboard
Fully reprogrammable via USB
Any character can be put on any key position, to suit user's exact preferences
UK and US vinyl layouts available
2.2mm operating distance
28 pin FPC cable
Trackpad
PalmCheck feature helps prevents unwanted mouse clicks
PS/2 interface
1N mouse click operating force
8 pin FPC cable
Base Bottom
Smart Battery Pack
Two-wire SMBus v2.0 interface
JEITA recommended charge profile
Over-current, over-voltage, over-temperature and short-circuit protection
Charge balancing for extenxed lifetime
51.8 Watt-hour capacity
10-12 hours run time
Hub board
Power management
Screen driver (HDMI to eDP conversion)
Batery LED indicators
18V. 3A input
5V. 3.5A output
3.3V 500mA output
Persistent 3.3V output
(available even when powered off)
PCB rail specification pinout connects UART, I2C and SPI to Raspberry Pi for use with add-on boards.
Raspberry Pi 3
Chipset: Broadcom BCM2837
CPU: 1.2GHz quad-core 64-bit ARM cortex A53
Ethernet : 10/100 (Max throughput 100Mbps)
USB: Four USB 2.0 with 480Mbps data transfer
Storage: MicroSD card or via USB-attached storage
Wireless: 802.11n Wireless LAN (Peak transmit/receive throughput of 150Mbps), Bluetooth 4.1
Graphics: 400MHz VideoCore IV multimedia
Memory: 1GB LPDDR2-900 SDRAM
Expandability: 40 general purpose input-output pins
Video: Full HDMI port
Audio: Combined 3.5mm audio out jack and composite video
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Also included
SD Card (8GB) with pi-topOS
Cables connecting pi-top pieces
Wifi Dongle
Charger
Instruction Booklet
Review: A Raspberry Pi laptop
Review: A Raspberry Pi laptop
We test out the kit that turns the $35 computer into a $300 laptop.
Why just why, I have a hard time with geeks wasting money. Just to prove a point I get but realy do not see the modivation. The Pi3 is tiny square brick that now can blutooth key mouse combo and wifi out of the box ( heck I would keep it in box and cut out plugs with exacto knive to run hdmi and power. ) ITS VERY EASY to be MOVED
Sorry to rant but its so stupid and costly idea.
Sorry to rant but its so stupid and costly idea.