I would be quite delighted with a portable Pi, or Pi laptop, and would likely buy one if it became available. The level of desire or want has no relationship to the suitability of the available Pi platforms for use as the main building block of a laptop.But what if you want a portable Raspberry Pi? Many people don't need or want one and so they have a complete blind spot to others that might think differently.
I can see the use case for a portable Pi, especially if you are making use of the GPIO. However, the form factor, thermals, port layout and sheer height of a 4B or 5 make it a crappy foundation block for a laptop. The other factor most people overlook or don't understand is the complexity of getting a recycled laptop display to play nicely with a Pi. The OP may not care, and doing things just because you can, if often a big enough reason. The question is are you trying to find something interesting to do with a Pi, or are you trying to build a decent laptop.
If the goal is inexpensive laptop form factor computing, there are many better building blocks. Recycled Chromebooks for example make fabulous Linux laptops.
GPIO aside I could repurpose a used chromebook and forget Raspberry Pi altogether, portable or not.
The fact is that the current physical hardware in either standalone/mainboard Pi (4B or 5) or all in one (400, 500) are not a suitable building block to make a laptop. The CM4 or CM5 with a custom motherboard is closer. However, that approach would require the most design work. The Pi team certainly could make one with a custom PCB, but I suspect they currently believe that the demand would not justify the NRE costs.
Statistics: Posted by bjtheone — Mon Mar 31, 2025 4:55 pm