Pi-Top review: A Raspberry Pi laptop for tinkering on the go

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Ok this is cute, useful and educational. If you shy away from computer building articles, repair articles, and shudder at the thought of replacing a hard drive or memory stick yourself, this product is made for you to learn that tech is easier than you thought. Or get it for a grand kid.

 

Excerpt:

 

"We test out the kit that turns the $35 computer into a $300 laptop.

 

The Raspberry Pi 3 may fit in your pocket but in its simplest form it's not a computer you can use on the move.

 

However, the Pi is nothing if not flexible and 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.

 

Baking a Pi-Top

 

The first step is building the laptop, which sounds far more daunting than it really is. The manual walks you through the process step by step and clearly identifies which of the limited number of parts you need to use at each stage.

 

The pictorial guide to assembling the laptop makes the job relatively simple - and the tools you need are included - but piecing together the case, boards and cables into a working laptop is a slightly nerve-wracking experience, at least initially.

 

Pressing the Pi onto the screws in the base of the laptop that hold it in place I worry about cracking some vital component, pushing the cables that link the Pi to the hub board I'm anxious about bending the pins.

 

Most of this trepidation stems from my lack of familiarity with piecing together hardware, rather than the complexity of the assembly, which it turns out is pretty straightforward. The most fiddly aspect, for me, is tightening the miniscule 2.5mm nuts that hold the boards in place while working around the various electronic components sticking out of the board.

 

All told it took me about three hours to build. Your experience may vary, on the one hand I kept stopping to take photos but on the other I had already familiarised myself with the process by first dissembling the fully-built computer I took delivery of (a process which took me longer than building it).

 

My fears of failure aren't realised, the Pi-Top fits together and, to my surprise, boots up when I hit the power button.

 

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."

 

The rest of the article goes in depth on the details and specifications of this neat looking project:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/pi-top-review-a-raspberry-pi-laptop-for-tinkering-on-the-go/?ftag=TRE684d531&bhid=19724681974700635514865380622813