Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MOST MID-RANGE PIECES of technology, be it a smartphone or a laptop, can cost a pretty penny.
You’re looking at a couple of hundred for a low-end laptop, and up to at least €700 for the latest iPhone.
Cheap, basic computers already exist – most famously the Raspberry Pi, which costs in the region of €25 – but a new Kickstarter project aims to beat that.
Meet CHIP. It will cost around $9 (€8).
This tiny device has some decent specifications, with 512MB of memory and a 4GB hard drive along with both WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities.
This gives it all the capabilities to act as a personal computer, with all the basic functionality you would expect, but at a fraction of the cost and size.
With 27 days to go to raise $50,000 on Kickstarter, it has already raced past this target, currently inching close to the $400,000 mark.
Like the Rasperry Pi, which has been used to create everything from robots to cat feeders, CHIP could have a wide-range of applications. Its creators have already gone down one particular route with this, and created the Pocket Chip.
It costs more than the basic model, but has a touchscreen, keyboard, and a battery that can last as long as five hours.
That’s it. We’re getting rid of our smartphones.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Bet that was the worst tasting apple the elephant ever got
All I know is, it was shiting BlackBerrys.
What’s missed here, particularly in the comparison withe Raspberry Pi, is that the RPi is produced by an educational charity and also that its hardware is manufactured in a factory in Wales rather than in China. So it aims to provide support for employment, promote computer education and as far as possible avoid exploitative practices.
Similarly with Arduino, that is produced in Italy rather than the far east and although there are plenty of clones they are from profit-making companies with large scale Chinese manufacturing plants.
If cheap is what you’re after, there are lots of choices.
When i remember my first PC had 1MB ram and a 40MB hdd and a 16MHz processor this chip thing is quite a beast.
Check out Lord Toffenose with his 1 Mb of RAM. In my day we had an Amstrad 464 with 64k RAM and we were delighted with it.
Checkout this fat cat with his 64kb of ram. In my day we have wooden dowels with coloured beads that went left and right
I had an abacus.
Luxury. Flaming luxury. We counted with flints in a cold wet cave.
Think you are missing a point here in the article, Nicky. Sure it might cost you a couple of hundred for a low end laptop (maybe some refurbished with better spec) or smartphone, but they are ready-to-go devices. CHIP and Rasberry Pi are what is called single board computers. A great idea, particularly in less developed countries in the world or for someone who wants to augment what they already have with a second portable CPU. But it still requires a monitor, keyboard and mouse. So unless you already have those bare bones add ons (or access to them), it’s still going to cost you another 150+ euros to be read-to-go.
I could get personal computer with a calander for less in argos and a tamagotchi for a 5er
Raspberry PIE would be nice.!
Wear can I get one?
Learn to spell first! ..Then buy the mini PC.
Bit harsh
Personally, I’d reccomend: the raspberry pi, which is far better in my opinion, which is pretty much similar but slightly more expensive, its a linux based system so it wouldnt be for the average computer user as it involves alot of linux knowledge.
have your say