This laptop has no brain 

Someone saw a laptop dock and thought "What if we built the opposite"

I work as a computer technician and I carry something like this around with me in my bag of tools. There are so many computers and servers out there that are operating in a headless environment, and they can be tough to troubleshoot that way if they stop working. Something like this provides a much more compact and portable solution than carrying around a small screen, power supply, and wireless keyboard and mouse. It doesn't seem like this device natively supports VGA inputs though, which kills its usefulness for me. Server hardware and industrial equipment still only support video out over VGA, so I have to have it.

Some random 12V adapter instead of USB-C charging? Shame...

It having mounting holes for an NVME drive I imagine they outsourced a laptop chassis and just put their branding on it, which would also explain a device targeted at people who would want to 'laptopize' a phone or a Raspberry Pi having a Windows key. Their solution for connecting a Raspberry Pi is pretty jank, though. I'd much rather a cable that connects on the laptop on one side and splits into USB, HDMI and power at the other end

i have a handful of computers running as servers with no monitor, and from time to time i need to drag out a monitor and keyboard to fix something, it could be very convenient to plug this thing in to manage my servers

So it's just a kickstarter lapdock then!

I would like this product a lot better if it had a cover on the bottom where you could put a Pi compute module and have it protected for a true portable Pi laptop.

I really didn't get this until you mentioned that you can connect your smartphone to it. It's actually a good idea.

The things I learn from you! Since my Dad passed, I don't have a font of info about computers anymore. He was so smart, my Dad. That's why I am so fond of you, Mattias. You remind me of him.

I'm suprised it uses an actual Pi instead of a compute module

Would be really handy for headless servers. Though the need for a USB A to A cable is a little cursed.

I imagine they sourced the shell from a third party laptop manufacturer that offers motherboards that take advantage of that m.2 hatch

To me, this device is a product looking for a purpose.

Fascinating! I bet people are going to discover uses for it really soon! Thanks, Matthias! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

Reminds me of the Droid Bionic Lapdock, a hybrid mobile experience that was too far ahead of its time. You'd just dock the phone at the back with the micro usb and micro hdmi ports, and the Lapdock provided a screen and keyboard, along with a longer life battery.

That's a great idea. Agree it should include a pack of cables, adapters...dongles. Mahalo for sharing!

That's kindof cool, it's a really great looking laptop case! Very nice with the display over USB-C for mobile devices

Ive got one of these - its very specifically for tech professionals to connect to servers or hard to reach industrial systems (in my case I work in Robotics, so its very useful for embedded device that I cant bring a normal keyboard/mouse/screen to.

OMG. That is so clunky, LOL'd when I saw how it worked. I was expecting it to go into an internal bay.

Interesting product, a really odd move to have a barrel jack for charging when the thing already has USB-C. That really makes the product look half baked.

Funniest thing is getting to the airport check with this thing: "Please turn it on" "This cannot be turned on, officer. Unless you happen to have a RPi with you"

This sounds like exactly what I've been wanting to build for over a decade, except maybe lack of internal space. I'm definitely gonna check it out.

Nice to see a laptop keyboard with full-size cursor keys and page up/down keys. It's almost worth losing the actual computer part for that.

Basically the dock the old HP Elite X3 Windows Phone had years ago. Still, a neat concept, if not a new one.

Having this with you to connect it to your phone seems like a genius idea to me, its like a docking station for your phone! 😊

this would be so useful for servers, its so annoying to move a monitor and keyboard around to each

Someone has reinvented the dumb terminal! Neat!

3d print an enclosure for the Pi that can attach to the back of the screen with Velcro and that could be a great low budget laptop.

This would be way cooler if the RPi was integrated somehow. Sticking out of the side doesn't really lend itself to the laptop's main use, being portable.

I could see this being handy in the lab at my work. We use a lot of small air-gapped networks and the workstations aren't usually close to the equipment the Pi would be hooked to. I've got a tiny HDMI monitor and a roll-up rubber keyboard, but I'd much rather use something like this.

Honestly I was down to buy it but the 12VDC barrel plug changed my mind. 😖

I work in data centres and often they have a cart with a monitor and keyboard that can be rolled around to connect to any random server for troubleshooting. This would be pretty handy for that. Though there doesn't tend to be tables around...so you'd need a roll around cart anyways!

certainly makes tinkering with a pi easier. No more fumbling with a monitor and keyboard. Although the first thing i do with a pi is connect it to wifi and set up SSH.

It is a laptop shell, this is why it has a slot... I wish it had a mechanical keyboard

Sometimes, I feel like this laptop ;-)

I think you just kissed your warranty goodbye.

Some time ago I got a new usb-c docking station at work, and out of curiosity I connected my Samsung phone to it, and I got desktop. And it charged too. Very cool, but I think the input lag was too much to actually work with.

i think its useless unless you deal with multiple raspberry pis and want a quick way to debug them on the fly

I have a bunch of old laptops lying around! I’m thinking of converting one to accept an external video signal and finding a way to convert the internal keyboard to USB. The touchpad should already be USB. It would be amazing to buy something like that, but I'd never find one with a Slovenian keyboard layout. But the more I think about it, I mostly use SSH for my headless machines, and for that, any old laptop by itself would do the job. I guess for me this setup would only be useful if the machine isn't reachable from the network?

Better if it had a snap on wedge underneath it, like keyboards have flip up feet to change keyboard angle, that could safely hold the R-PI so nothing is sticking out getting broken off. Matthias, pull off the bottom cover and replace it with one that houses that plus larger speakers as a future episode. Vacuum formed sheet or light wood.

This will be perfect for my homelab rack!

I agree, a few short cables seems easier to use than the PCB. Especially because all my Raspberry Pi’s have a case on them already.

Using guitar picks (or formally plectrums) to pry those case clips is highly recommended, I always have one around for opening that stuff ;)

im guessing the laptop chassis is used for a normal laptop, hence the nvme door. Could be handy as a portable console for service tech work.

But there's NexDock already...

Interesting product. Would probably have been nice if it had an internal slot for a Pi compute module. Then for the extra cost of one edge connector you'd have had the option of using it as a stand-alone laptop. Without that it probably makes it way to niche of a product to get many sales.

really I missed oportunity, they could have made it raspi compute module compatible and it could also have acted as a normal laptop

Couldn't they figure out a thick cable that plugs into all of those three connections and takes their individual signals to a small box glued to the back of the lid, where the pi sits? That would be much slicker. No way that side board doesn't break after picking up the laptop a dozen times

That thing is cursed. USB male to male.... Preposterous

This, but with an internal bay to actually *hold* my phone, would be amazing. As-is, the clunkiness of having something connected to it defeats much of the purpose of a laptop... I could still see some use cases, but I'd be much more interested in what this could be if it were designed to wrap a phone in a convenient manner.

Logitech, Microsoft, and a bunch of players I've never heard of before all sell a keyboard with an integrated touchpad which is nice to work with mobile. (Logitech K400 for example) I already have several 17" screens that can be used mobile, or as a display for a phone. I like the idea of using a Pi5 in a fanless heatsink case with a pair of these, an external ssd storage drive, and a decent Microphone with a Scarlet or Behringer XLR interface for that mic, as a silent audio capture system. That case may look like it prevents access to the gpio pins, but there are pin extenders for that, and the DSI video interface, and camera slots use ribbon cables that can fit between the case seams. The big issue then becomes power for the setup. At home, a laptop USB power supply of 35 watts or more works. Mobile you can just barely get away with the 10 amps available at the 12v power ports that used to be cigar/cigarette lighter sockets. When you start looking at the battery packs of the various 'portable power stations' I'm of the opinion we're stretching the idea mobile though.

So the same thing as the "Lap-dock" from about 12 years ago, when a phone could be plugged into a laptop shell very similar to this.

little weird... wish they slotted in more elegantly

This is really cool I'd definitely use this to set up a pi before deploying into whatever place i need it to be in. But also for general pi prototyping. This is great

Change the power input to USB-C, mini HDMI to full size and at least double the battery and I’ll buy one. Sadly I definitely won’t with a barrel connector!

This device is a console server essentially, except it's not a rack drawer. The primary purpose of this product is to act as a way so you can do remote server management. You can also use it like you're demonstrating and that is nice for when you need to test a PC but don't want to lug a monitor, keyboard and mouse around or don't have space to do so.

The CPU is not subscription based? What a disappointment.

lol ouches in the timelapse unintentional humor we didn't know existed.

Interesting; I rolled my own computer from scratch a few years back (a few of them really) .. mostly with VGA out, but I did fiddle with HDMI-out on them a bit; VGA is way easier to generate of course... and there are some cheapo cables to do VGA->HDMI. I've been loking for a nice laptop case to wrap around those - could roll my own too but never looks nice; something like this above, but wsith an inch thick empty cavity underneath would have been awesome, but even as is .. could be workable if ugly; plug my monster little computer into the side with some cables, good to go. So if the price is right.... maybe? Great preview, thanks!

Could be useful for servicing rack-servers, but it needs a vga-port. There are not many battery-powered monitors out there that have a vga-port. usually just hdmi or usc-c. found some, but expensive or low resolution screens.

Always good to see a new LapDock on the market.

Why didn't they just add a removable panel on the bottom with a Compute Module socket?? that would be infinity more appealing

This would be great for headless servers

The initial pricing, makes it a nice tool for having a cheaper option for a rackmounted monitor and keyboard. You just need the CrowView, and a few cables. Thanks.

This 12V charging adapter ist standard. It's just very old. But you can directly connect it to your car (battery). I like these a lot.

Well, it'd make a half-way decent crash cart monitor / poor man's KVM.

it's a laptop with the guts spilled out like in a ww2 movie 😂

Matthias rigs everything😂

This looks okay but the nexdock has been around for a long time and seems better in every way.

Should have been titled, 'No brains included'.

I'd prefer to have an older laptop with proper input devices (such as a TrackPoint) and use that to SSH/VNC/RDP into a more powerful machine. The idea is neat, but the product is not made with ergonomics in mind.

This would be cool for people who want a desktop but like the feeling of using a laptop, and if you need desk space you could just fold the laptop up and stick it up against the wall when you're done with it

Very cool device to troubleshoot servers and machines without dedicated display & keyboard

I don't get how this is even new? We used to do this with motorola lapdock like 8 years ago?

Love a Matthias review!

The form factor is just a generic case.

As smartphones progress I can see there being a good demand for a lightweight screen and keyboard combo like this. Lots of people could probably do a lot of useful work from just a phone with a device like this and it could provide a larger entertainment screen for travel etc too. Currently I travel with a phone and tablet for this purpose but I still need to add a bluetooth keyboard if I expect to do a lot of typing, be nice to have it all in one package (with decent speakers too).

That thing needs a Pi Zero 2W mod

This is not a commie, it’s a terminal (like the DEC VT100). This is how computer user interface started, back in the 70s.

$120 is a bit much. $50 or $80 is more like it. If they want more, they need to fix the speakers.

One question: why? What purpose could this possibly serve? Why not configure is for the Compute Board?

For ~$120, I can see some uses. For example, I have a few boxes around that sometimes aren't accepting SSH connections so I need to move a monitor and keyboard to get access or just power cycle it if I'm feeling lazy. This could be a handy way to troubleshoot things, but only to save myself the effort of moving peripherals.

LAPDOCK for ATRIX 4G is basically the progenitor of the concept.

120 bucks isn't bad. Actually kinda tempting. I've got some plans that involve an original xbox....

This is great if you have a bunch of headless home servers.

yeah same for android phone remote laptop terminals.

Door on the back maybe for a Pico?

Noooo, I thought you can put RPi inside the laptop case! Why the didn't make compartment inside, would be sooo much more convenient...

Not a laptop or a computer. Would be fun to use as a keyboard and mouse for my android phone

I am really wanting to come up for a use for this, but its kind of the worst of both worlds, all the constraints of a laptop without the pick up and go portability of one

It fits a certain niche, I guess, but it'd be better if it had a cutout to just stick a Pi or other SBC inside, wire it up and make it more of a proper laptop. Although, what I really wonder is why you use Windows and any Apple products when you have Linux available.

I think the best use cases are troubleshooting servers as mentioned earlier and as a Pi development platform.

I'd be interested in hooking an android phone up to it to see how well it does

I'm pretty sure this will not sell well.

This feels like a thing that will only work if the price is righ... and with that, what I mean is if the price is cheap

About $ 120 for "early birds". So presumably the final product will cost more than that. Add to that the cost of their connector boards or your own cables. And of course a Raspberry Pi. Also despite designing the thing, they didn't bother to use any of the ample room inside the device to allow you to (at least partially) insert the RPi, instead leaving it dangling on the side. For the same amount of money you can easily get a refurbished laptop with equal or better specs. Or if you're wanting to make use of an RPi, this "brainless laptop" doesn't seem much better than a regular monitor, mouse and keyboard. I could really only see it work if you are either very constrained in available space or if you have a need to regularly move or store your RPi setup.

That would be perfect for a Raspberry Pi CM4 Compute Module.

This is superb for playing with Pi's although I agree that having a cable bundle would be better for attaching to Pi's already in locations and projects....... Having said all that.... SSH/VNC with the tablet does the same thing.

With fewer and fewer laptops coming with dedicated pgup and pgdn buttons, hobbling programmers and keyboard warriors, I may just need to give this a go and make it work!

Holy TI99/4A why wouldn't you build the system for internal mounting?