Raspberry Pi laptop teaches you to code; allows you to peek inside to see components

By Nicole DiGiose, content editor

The affordability of the beloved Raspberry Pi has given rise to a new type of computer, one which goes beyond the credit-card-sized board. With vibrant shells and displays that mimic a normal-sized laptop or PC, the pi-top  is the first of its kind.

pi-top is a modular laptop that gives you the tools to complete DIY projects and bring your inventions to life. Image source: pi-top.

The idea behind the unique device is to offer a platform for education built on top of the Raspberry Pi board. Features include a 14-in. 1080p full HD LCD display housed inside a vibrant green casing, a sliding keyboard, trackpad, modular rail for accessories, a battery offering up to eight hours of use between charges, an 8-GB Class 10 SD card, and a power adapter. Unlike the company’s original pi-top, which had a removable panel above the keyboard that could be lifted to reveal the modular rail system for adding components and viewing its Raspberry Pi engine, the updated version features the sliding keyboard to reveal the rail system and additional hardware in place of the panel.

Right out of the box, you have an easy-to-build, usable laptop. It runs on pi-topOS, a system based on the Raspbian OS that many Raspberry Pi users are familiar with. With pi-topOS, you’ll get a coding environment, space exploration game, a new interface, and online classroom management software to guide you along the way in your inventions.

What’s different about the laptop is that the sliding keyboard is a necessity because you need it to access the modular rail inside. What’s more, it allows for a range of pi-top accessories to be installed, and the Inventor’s Kit that ships with the pi-top contains 20 parts, allowing for the creation of a robot, music maker, or whatever else you can imagine.

If you’re looking forward to tinkering with this new device, know that you don’t have to wait long. The pi-top is scheduled to begin shipping worldwide by the end of October. In the U.S., Best Buy, Micro Center, Sparkfun, and Troxell are a few retailers that are planning to stock it.  

Currently Arrow.com sells the pi-top for $299.99 pi-top for $299.99 and the Raspberry Pi 3 for $34.99 in their Holiday Shop for hi-tech and engineering gifts.