Raspberry Pi 500 Hands On First Look, It's Finally Here!

[@JemilMarcosTyC]

Interesting how we came back to the commodore style computing...

[@mirzahadzic8666]

next thing you know we will load games from Spotify.

[@RCCRAWL-q7g]

Nobody ever wanted huge computers. Had tech stayed caught up we never would have stopped.

[@GamerGuy1985]

Bring cassettes back.

[@JemilMarcosTyC]

@@GamerGuy1985 long live CRT monitors!

[@dafoex]

Or given the roots of ARM, would that be BBC Micro? Can we get one with red function keys?

[@FloridaManRacer]

I used to be a motorsports writer. I would've KILLED for a simple, light setup like this in the media center at Daytona to write and edit articles and post to my website like this. At sub 200 dollars for the whole setup, this could REALLY get some work done! If it also does retro emulation at all well, up to say N64/PS1, It'd also be great for the downtime. I see this as a no-brainer to buy if you have a use case like I used to for this... Raspberry Pi's products and small form factor single board computers in general just never cease to amaze me these days. Thanks for the showcase!

[@zenunomusic]

@@FloridaManRacer i mean u could just get a laptop for thaat price, even a chromebook can run linux

[@theoriginaldylangreene]

A cheap laptop would have been far more useful. This is a toy for children, babies first linux pc. For teaching basic python so they can make some led's blink etc.

[@cloudycolacorp]

Wait till you find out about laptops 😃

[@arthurwintersight7868]

@theoriginaldylangreene - I feel like it should be possible to buy a laptop without the screen, and simply "dock" it wherever you want to work. That way you can use larger monitors, a custom mouse, and a lot of people really don't like those trackpads.

[@FloridaManRacer]

@@cloudycolacorp any laptop at $190 isn't gonna be worth a damn... this will actually WORK...

[@RoofElmao]

i want it but i don't need it

[@UrgentSnooker]

same and the most regrettable thing is that I don't have enough free time to enjoy playing with it

[@valveman12]

You have it backward: *You do NEED IT because you WANT IT!*

[@jondm733]

I don't want it without m.2 ssd, even the barebones pi5 can take an adapter, this is rediculous, especially their answer that they know what is better for the consumers.

[@MundaneMuser]

OK

[@LongLiveTheLionKing2]

Truer words were never spoken

[@cynthia7445]

What a neat idea for a youngster's first computer. I like that red/white monitor.

[@nikobellic570]

I'm waiting for a release in black. Being powered directly from the pi 5's usb ports is a bonus

[@lonster3000]

Nice shout out to Jeff, I see he already has two videos out covering the 500.

[@maniacsatwork]

The matching monitor is really nice. Unfortunately shipping to Australia from a US reseller for the monitor ends up being around $330AUD. Thankfully the Pi 500 is available locally.

[@EmeraldHill-vo1cs]

Second hand laptops have plummeted last couple of years, lots for under $230. au.

[@cybernit3]

Someone was saying that the reason the PoE and M.2 SSD wasn't added because of the FCC inspection possibly on Jeff Gerlings channel. It would have been perfect if the m.2 ssd was there, but good they are updating the Pi400. Imagine if this was out in the 1980s, lol, would be so powerful; reminds me of the c64 I once had.

[@interproservice]

No full HDMI nor NVME will wait til Pi 600 so another 4 years.

[@hassosigbjoernson5738]

Don't need nvme on such a low end SBC. A simple micro HDMI to HDMI I already have laying around solves the "problem". With Pi600 hopefully there isn't any HDMI still around: should have a USB-C for that by then.

[@DaveMcIroy]

Micro HDMI is shit.

[@crazymcgee3604]

@@hassosigbjoernson5738 A 2230 NVME could be useful...something low-end like 64GB would be more than enough but would offer much more long-term usability than a Micro-SD card.

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

@@DaveMcIroy agreeded as ite easy to break like mini hdmi

[@wasyl00]

I get the missing nvmi is huge pain but full hdmi is not a big issue imo

[@albundy7718]

Spoiler: Jeff Geerling couldn't get the m.2 slot to work. Not only is the connector missing but also some electronics on the backside.

[@SlavicCelery]

If we know anything about Jeff Geerling - he couldn't get it to work "yet".

[@anand_bhasme]

Interestingly, Jeff was the one who once recommended your channel on one of his videos. Since then, I was hooked on your content.

[@ranjithmkumar]

Why dont they make a laptop instead !!

[@GreenishlyGreen]

Lol, look at the teardown of their monitor 🤣

[@asdprogram]

+1

[@DFX2KX]

Cost and the fact it would compete with Chromebooks at that point

[@mgg7756]

Just buy a laptop if you want one

[@johnosam4681]

Modular

[@stranger.granger]

no nvme slot is a deal breaker for me. I hope RockPi make a similar product with an nvme slot and hopefully more than 8GB RAM.

[@couragic]

The history has made full turn: 33 years ago I got my first computer - ZX Spectrum 48K. It looked very similar to this device - a keyboard that could be attached to TV.

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

Looks good. I have been using a Pi 400 as my main desktop everyday for the over two years now with the Pi OS and a 22" monitor. I have had to replace the memory card a couple of times I can see myself buying one of these too.

[@jktrgg]

Makes much more sense than a chromebook. Hope there would be a streamlined laptop version of this platform

[@SurjoKanta-o2y]

Can't open jeff's link

[@deemacgee]

+1

[@sonarfreq]

delete the word "follow" of the end of the url and it will work 👍

[@joester4life]

@@sonarfreq You're right. Looks like @JeffGeerling and Follow is not spaced properly.

[@tosvus]

Totally missed the 400 (and prior versions??) - this is amazing! Such a nice reminder of the old days of C64, Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST etc.

[@yuryeuceda8590]

Jeff became a legend, LoL, you made me smile.

[@mariosonicfan]

Where is the color red under like the pi400 ???? Why there is a spot for a disk nvme on the motherboard with no connector ?

[@_SurferGeek_]

Your link to Jeff isn't working. The lack of the M.2 means I'll keep my Pi 400... for now.

[@sonarfreq]

delete the word "follow" of the end of the url and it will work 👍

[@_SurferGeek_]

@@sonarfreq Yes... but not the point. I was just letting him know that, as it's typed, it doesn't work. Most folks won't bother.

[@zdanee]

I only wanted two things from this: a 3.5mm audio jack and some solid state storage more reliable than microSD.

[@dafoex]

The 3.5 mm jack could easily be on one of the side edges, if they really wanted.

[@UnNamedGuy0]

4:24 I watched Jeff's video first and didn't notice the solder pads to the right of the keyboard ribbon connector marked "Battery". Maybe we will get a Raspberry Pi Laptop or a battery powered version of the Raspberry Pi 500. Or it might get scrapped in future revisions.

[@hdtravel1]

What an awesome combo - super sweet !!

[@tmthanhable]

Glad to hear this new release of Pi 500 ❤ Ive been waiting for long time

[@fleshreap]

Would be such a suitable computer for my mom if it just had option for an ssd.

[@Carnyzzle]

I run my pi 400 with a portable USB SSD just fine

[@raskarkapax]

Your mom will be just fine with a 256gb micro sd

[@fleshreap]

@@raskarkapax sd cards break and are slow.

[@raskarkapax]

@@fleshreap sd cards only break if you constantly swap it without taking much care of it. But if you put it carefully inside once and never touch it again (just as you would do with an internal ssd) you won't have any chance to break it. And a good SD card can read up to 200mb/s easy which is just as fast or faster than a good HDD.

[@impossiblescissors]

I appreciate how the ports were relocated from Pi 400, and the port where you'd presumably plug your mouse is farthest on the right.

[@MINKIN2]

The M.2 is not the only thing that is "missing". There is also A LOT of unpopulated pads and odd layout design choices on the board too. It really looks like they have other intended uses for the board... Perhaps a laptop is in the works???

[@kurtwinter4422]

Maybe a dedicated GPU? A sub $300 laptop with dedicated graphics would be a game changer.

[@arthurwintersight7868]

I would really prefer a laptop based on the CM4/CM5, just because it'll bring us back to the era of being able to upgrade a laptop CPU. Imagine if all laptops used something like the Pi Compute Module 5 and you could simply upgrade that one part instead of replacing the whole laptop.

[@albundy7718]

Jeff thinks on the left side thats an unpopulated PoE Port, which is odd since there is no opening for the LAN cable.

[@JayrosModShop]

The missing parts on the far left is for PoE.

[@Sithhy]

@albundy7718 I mean, the Pi500 has a LAN port... but it's not PoE

[@neuronoc.7343]

Honestly, full gaming rigs inside keyboard chassis like this would be awesome.

[@anshulsharma9131]

Wow! This is some awesome tech 👏💯👌 Thanks for the review.

[@Spee33]

Kind of a bummer that it doesnt use USB-C for power and monitor. :(

[@ChuckSteel]

Came here hoping to find the answer to this question, but now I'm disappointed.

[@tosvus]

I felt the wording was a bit unclear? He said you could power it by usb from the raspberrry pi but only at 60% brightness. I guess that is not using USB-C but rather hdmi and a regular usb to usb-c cable?

[@alap1983]

The absence of an NVMe SSD slot kills the appeal of the Pi 500 significantly. With the slot, the Pi could easily be one of the best entry-level "My First Computer" for students.

[@oldbrokenhands]

So close to having Deckers, gonna need them soon.

[@L7oser]

I would’ve loved to see some kind of slots on the back of the monitor to attach/store the keyboard.

[@8bitchiptune420]

The Jeff channel link is broken.

[@sfgoogle1963]

I don't know if they exist, but a slide out track pad for that keyboard to remove the need for a mouse would be nice.

[@rodolink_0]

how sturdy is the keyboard, like for typing daily?

[@evanjrowley]

In addition to the NVME slot, I think this could be a lot more successful if it had included a Pi camera connector. The Pi 5 series lacks video encoding, so any advantage it could get to reduce CPU overhead during a video call would help a lot. Video calling is a use case that has really grown over the years and I'd like to see them consider it in the next generation.

[@atomicfro]

My work just got a bunch of these to run end-of-line tests at the factory.

[@erickmirandacom]

I hope the pi 600 brings the 16GB and trackpad to make it perfect!

[@LongLiveTheLionKing2]

The amiga and RISC crowds are gonna love this thing

[@bazcurtis178]

I’ve been waiting for this. Now to migrate my Home Assistant from the 400 to the 500.

[@Pedro8k]

Disappointed why no nvme slot needed full size hdmi also how does it keep cool

[@yoruneko34]

I love that form factor, reminds me of my first computers

[@Bilal.Hussain.Shaikh]

Can you connect Samsung phones for Samsung Dex?, or any phone with desktop mode?

[@Riiyan]

I think I'm more excited that the little monitor is full 1080 and completely cased with buttons with some mounting points then the pi500 but it's still a cool welcomed upgrade. Man you can get one right now for 90 bucks, in stock too. No NVME is complete bummer, it should of been included and just released at $99 dollar instead of 90 to recoup cost.

[@sting6ph]

looking for a replacement for my aging Chromebook...this could be a good option

[@benyyz]

Micro-HDMI?? This is basically e-waste with such a fragile connector. Would be an instant buy if they put full-sized HDMI ports on this.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Agreed.

[@Alacritous]

The Orange Pi 5 has full size HDMI and it has an NVMe slot.

[@trilight3597]

Am I the only one who hasn't had issues with that connector...yet?

[@wisteela]

No it isn't.

[@wisteela]

@@ExplainingComputers They don't seem that fragile.

[@craigspada1676]

Great video! Thank you for the excellent review, I am going to get one to play with.

[@curtishorn1267]

Yes they should release a 550 model with an M.2 and all the bells and whistles.

[@RetroGamingMonkey]

I would like to see the different OS options tested

[@MrDLYouTube]

It's like a blast from the past Amiga. :)

[@quarteratom]

If we're really talking about Raspberry Pi desktop, does video acceleration fully work in Firefox and desktop video players like Mpv, Smplayer?

[@mattdavis9601]

I've always liked the whole "shove a computer in a keyboard" form factor. The Atari 800 and Commodore 64 come to mind. The Pi 400 likewise. This Pi 500 + portable monitor set-up is cool. I'm not sure if I can find a use-case for it that can't be adequately filled by other things I already own; but, I am looking. Haha. I'm looking forward to ETA's future coverage of the Pi 500.

[@SSANCHEZ1985]

HDMI wireless adaptor should be no problem right, want to use this to replace my aging smart tv

[@JohnBarber]

Really unfortunate that it doesn't have USB-C PD. Guessing a chipset limitation or something. Certainly something they should strive for with the Pi 6/600.

[@kaliv3785]

If the m.2 issue is solved, would there be a way to use a graphicscard with it, jeff already showed, that it is possible with a normal pi 5

[@LukeNemitz]

man this is really awesome, gotta snag one of these. thanks for the rundown, ETA!

[@superangrybrit]

Missed oppo to have an Amiga style trap door. 😭

[@proteque]

Because of the missing m.2 I will pass on this one.

[@wanderleyceschim2881]

In my view the biggest miss of the Pi400 was not having at least one regular HDMI port. This new Pi500 perpetuates that mistake. A full HDMI port would have made it simpler for occasional use (my case), so I will pass on this one, as my Pi400 is still serving me well.

[@Astro_Five]

@wanderleyceschim2881 just curious why using a mini Hdmi Adapter would be a problem? They are dirt cheap and it's what I used for the pi400

[@wanderleyceschim2881]

@@Astro_Five Like I said: occasional use. I have many things I plug in and out of the same HDMI port. Would like to just leave the one HDMI cable there and plug whatever to it without having to deal with a separate cable or yet another adapter I will misplace. And I understand the SBCs are tiny so no space for full HDMI port, but they had an opportunity with the 400 and now with the 500 and in my view missed that opportunity.

[@Astro_Five]

@wanderleyceschim2881 right on. You just leave the adapter plugged in to the Pi itself. It works just like the regular size HDMI input at that point. But I respect it being annoying to you

[@mrkts4811]

if they would solve the storage... how much would that cost to enable m2. ssd?

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

I think they have missed om something not having a 3.5mm audio jack. I would accept a longer keyboard for a proper number pad. A 4th USB port would have been good too.

[@skiptoacceptancemdarlin]

Why doesn’t Apple do this form factor for the M-x Mini line? I have a $30 Bluetooth keyboard that looks exactly like this thing. The M4 mini would absolute Fit in that box. Power supply and Cooling fan included.

[@cfbmoo1]

This is really the most 1980's computer like modern computer I've seen. All it needs is a cartridge port. :D

[@mikecatt1978]

I would love to see how well this works with CURA and any other 3d printing software.

[@ec88886]

there might be a m.2 slot, because your pi is a prototype (pvt written on pcb)

[@LILEE376]

Probably there will be a version of it with M.2 support.

[@tarang1782]

this is what laptop designs should change to. separate keyboard and monitor all split up, keep them as far or as high as you like and no more broken necks and laptop neck pain. the best posture fix that laptop makers should all copy.

[@ninaomaranhao]

I have a RPi5, but i think the 6 will brake the barrier, i think the RPi6 will be a computer with full capability, since we have 4 years with good performace arm processors(apple silicon), the next RPi will come with one of these processors(not the apple one, but one with this horsepower), and usb C as major. If is not dream too much, they can give up HDMI and all usb ports for 1 USB C as charger and 2-3 more USB TB3-4 would be more than enough to replace all the actual ports with dongle.

[@swampy1234]

What's the use case for this little thing?

[@mattm7220]

Admittedly, I don't know much about hardware support when it comes to Pi's, but it seems a bit odd that they designed the monitor with a USB-C input for display, but didn't include a USB-C output on the Pi 500 🤔 Maybe different teams that weren't communicating, or can Pi's not do USB-C display out?

[@OldBuford]

Such a cool concept and really nice hardware specs...shame about the I/O and storage though. No full size HDMI and lack of M.2 killed any interest i might have had in it 😒

[@peterpanimg]

Excellent! Kudos on the ingenuity. Looks clean, well thought of to work as a perfect fit. Great flexibility for preferred ergonomic setup. In that regard, I rate it next to my current favorite Zenbook Duo. Excited to see what else goes on display coming CES. In similar vein, I have a 2017 16" HP Envy with cracked screen and one broken hinge. Old enough for me to experiment with removing the entire top, and attempt at a possible keyboard PC with trackpad :D

[@MrFreesearcher]

Yeah I really don't understand why Ebon Upton didn't add an M.2 socket, relevant chips, and include a knock out or access panel to allow users to install an M.2. It would have been small fries on the price, and I'd really be happy to pay for that. It would also give the Pi#00 series that missing component found in all modern computers. Maybe the Pi600 will include it, or an upgraded variant of the Pi500 will add this feature. After all, why have the pads there if your not going to do anything with it?

[@mikhail4519]

- Oh, it's an m2 slot? - Better. Pins for m2 slot!

[@xmaverickhunterkx]

The monitor at 16:10 would have been great. Otherwise, cool setup.

[@MatthewHill]

Add some PoE and support for an M.2, this thing would've been killer.

[@thefearlessgeek]

Jeff already tried and failed to add an m.2 slot.

[@JC.CopyCrea]

Now weld the M.2 slot and put an Oculink on it

[@TheJalister]

I'm hoping for a keyboard with a number pad, 16 GB, and an NVMe slot. That would be perfect for what I want to set up.

[@Theenemy38]

Can you make a video on how to install retropie on both the pi 400 and 500 in raspberry pi OS? I don't want to have to fiddle around with swapping SD cards.

[@DamaruM]

now they should make a laptop with days worth of battery life. or maybe a framework module.

[@wisteela]

I knew they'd make a 500. I wasn't expecting it to be entirely white, and I certainly wasn't expecting a monitor. It would be cool if they also made them in black. I see that's it's got connections for a battery, and other unused spaces.

[@waitingtoconnect]

Looking forward to your fan/heatsink mod to see how high you can push the cpu :)😅

[@mrtn5882]

So what is the actual typing experience like?

[@Berg085]

i'd like to see the monitor tested for input delay if possible.

[@Turtle_Zed]

There are two many missing from the motherboard such as 16Gb memory, ability to add a SSD Wait for the Pi 550 or the Pi 600

[@EmArgh]

Is the name a nod to the Amiga 500?

[@Butterscotch_96]

I put a Pi5 on my Christmas list but if I don’t get it then I’m definetly buying myself the Pi 500.

[@adimegan4677]

why no keyboard wireless/usb out... so we could use as pc keyboard

[@davedsilva]

Do you like using the keyboard? Does it have a nice feel to it?

[@jamesg872]

This looks like it would be an emulation powerhouse, and would be neat for Amibian and other distros that take over the Raspberry Pi to mimic the feel of the older hardware.

[@Axon44]

I love the design concept but can someone explain the practical use of this device? Why would you use this when a small laptop can do the same and much more and would be one piece to carry instead of screen and device seperate.

[@FroggyTWrite]

eta - your link to jeff's channel is broken

[@Wallee580]

Cracked up at seeing Jeff. xD

[@breakpack]

Got one before they sell out!

[@albundy7718]

The non-working m.2 Slot is the most disappointing fact, because there is no other use for the PCI Port the Pi5 has.

[@terosaarela4555]

I wonder if they’ll come up with an upgrade mainboard for the Pi400?

[@LaurentCourtin]

I hope the Pi Foundation will finally start using 8-core CPUs in the future. The Pi is neat, but it starts to lag behind the competition on some points. Even the Orange Pi 800 came with a 6-core CPU.

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

Would be cool if the portable monitor would have been display over USB in combination with power delivery (from the monitor to the Pi). Think an SSD would have been better on the underside of PCB. Don't want people to go remove the keyboards above with the lid and clips.