Raspberry Pi 400 AiO PC cranks it up to 1.8GHz
Nov 2, 2020 — by Eric Brown 1,555 viewsRPi Trading has launched a $70 to $100 “Raspberry Pi 400” all-in-one keyboard PC with a RPi 4-like mainboard (minus a USB 2.0 and MIPI DSI/CSI) and improved thermals that enable a faster 1.8GHz SoC.
Last year the Raspberry Pi 4 SBC shipped in an optional, $120 Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit configuration that supplies a 4GB Pi 4 in a case, power supply, and mouse/keyboard combo. Now, the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Raspberry Pi Trading have delivered an equivalent product for $100 that skips the case and packs an RPi 4 like mainboard into the keyboard.


Raspberry Pi 400 (left) and full kit
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Better yet, the Raspberry Pi 400 has a new Broadcom BCM2711 with the same four Cortex-A72 cores but spun up from 1.5GHz to 1.8GHz. Although it’s currently limited to 4GB LPDDR4-3200 instead of the maximum of 8GB available on the Raspberry Pi 4 and RPi 4 based systems like the CrowPi2 laptop, the Raspberry Pi 400 is now the fastest Pi around.
The Raspberry Pi 400 features a Bluetooth keyboard that is much like the existing option and adds a large new heatspreader to cool the faster processor. The 286 x 122 x 23mm computer is available for $70 on its own or $100 for the Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit. The kit gives you a mouse, power supply, user’s guide, micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, and a 16GB microSD card pre-loaded with Raspberry Pi OS.

Raspberry Pi 400 detail view
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Built into one side of the 78- or 79-key compact keyboard (depending on regional variant) you will find 2x USB 3.0, 2x micro-HDMI at up to 4Kp60, and a GbE port. Other features include a microSD slot, external 40-pin GPIO, USB Type-C with 5V input, and the usual dual-band 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.0 with LE. The operating range is 0 to 50°C.


Raspberry Pi 400 PCB, front and back in Jeff Geerling teardown
Source: Jeff Geerling
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Only one of the RPI 4’s two USB 2.0 ports is available, with the other driving the keyboard, and there are no MIPI-DSI or -CSI interfaces. RPi Trading says that if you open the case, you may damage the product and invalidate the warranty. However, Jeff Geerling did open the case without too much trouble, although he advises taking care around the GPIO. His teardown report reveals a long, rectangular mainboard that aside from the missing MIPI appears to offer almost identical components as the RPi 4.


Raspberry Pi 400 top view (left) and Jeff Geerling teardown view of heatspreader
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Geerling used Phoronix benchmarks to show roughly 18 percent faster performance compared to the RPi 4. It would be nice to eventually see a Raspberry Pi 4B+ SBC with the new 1.8GHz Broadcom BCM2711, as well as an 8GB RAM version of the Raspberry Pi 400. Meanwhile, here’s an easy addition to the holiday shopping list.
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Further information
The Raspberry Pi 400 is available for $70 or $100 for the full Raspberry Pi 400 Personal Computer Kit. Keyboard options include UK, US, DE, FR, IT, and ES, and power supplies support UK, US, EU, India, and ANZ formats. Product is available now in configurations for UK, US, and France. Availability should spread in the coming weeks and months, reaching worldwide in early 2021.
More information may be found in RPi Trading CEO Eben Upton’s blog announcement, as well as the product page, which offers a link to shopping pages. On the US models at least, we are currently seeing only the full $100 kit available at locations such as
OKDO and PiShop US. Shipments are typically due within 5-10 business days.
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