Pentaform launches AbacusBasic, the ‘world’s most affordable PC’ | Hacker News Reader

Pentaform launches AbacusBasic, the ‘world’s most affordable PC’

techcrunch.com

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MicroCenter sells their cheapest laptop with Windows 10 included for $79.99 .

https://www.microcenter.com/product/646649/evolve-iii-maestr...

So... ?

FWIW, it is showing up as only $59.99 (!) at that link for me. Amazing!

Wow. And not only is it a complete laptop for that price, but it appears to come with more memory and storage (4GB/64GB) than Abacus's base model (2GB/0).

Or buy a reconditioned thin client for 20-30 USD on eBay.

Add 10 USD for a keyboard and mouse.

The result will be much better than the OP in every way.

Would you mind sharing a link to one of these reconditioned thin clients?

This is absolutely amazing. They say retail margins are about 50%, so for 40 bucks they're making a battery pack, charger, lcd monitor, keyboard, track pad, Intel processor computer and Microsoft windows. Incredible

I don't even know what I would use it for, but this is tempting

Incredible that today this is a better deal and more accessible than any current Raspberry Pi model.

Nice to see netbooks making a comeback.

This is an incredible ripoff. The Z8350 had an MSRP of $21 when it launched six and a half damn years ago. What else has it got, a keyboard, track pad, a ten watt power supply? This thing has a bill of materials of like forty bucks. $150 is fucking insulting.

Yeah z8350 is really outdated these days. Even the Atom-based Celeron j4125 from late 2019 is about 3 times faster per CPUBenchmark: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Celeron-J4125-vs-...

You know what's better than Pentaform? Any of the companies doing refurbishing and resale of used PCs. I can get a laptop that has everything built-in and the same performance as this cheap wasteful keyboard for the same price. Amazing!

But damn they suck at marketing. If only they claimed to launch the world's most affordable and environmentally friendly PC. Guess they didn't have the money for that.

Exactly, I just picked up a beautiful condition Thinkpad T430 with 8G ram and 120G SSD for $80. Admittedly, a great deal, but I see them commonly available for around the same price as the Pentaform.

Interesting! I was considering a raspberry pi 4 for some things but a laptop is more appropriate. Where would I find these?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=T430&_sacat=0

Despite having a 10 year old cpu, it's way faster than an rpi, though the later has it's own use cases.

For sure, rpis are awesome too! Will definitely take a look at this one. Thanks!

$150 is not exceptionally affordable. There have been many PCs and laptops for that price for a long time.

The main barrier to devices actually being affordable to most people are import taxes. The majority of the world's nations have very high duties. So either you have to produce completely locally or convince governments to stop shooting themselves in the foot out of greed.

I suppose the headline might be true if "PC" means "a computer with an x86 processor that can mostly run modern Windows."

But, I'd recommend most people in this market look at either a Raspberry Pi or a Chromebook, depending on what they're trying to do.

I think ARM would be allowed, but for a layman to consider it a PC, you probably do need the windows capabilities.

Raspberry Pi actually made a model that is built into a keyboard. I think it’s called the 400. And it’s less expensive than the PC linked above

That may very well be. What's the windows support like/does it come with windows pre-installed?

I may personally hate windows with a passion, but if we're talking about the layman's definition of "PC", I think that's still a hard requirement. Especially this side of the "I'm a mac/I'm a PC" commercials.

Well, lately, that’s about the price of an Rpi… and this thing does come with keyboard and pointing device.

Otherwise, I would agree. The MSRP of the Pi is better, as is the feature set.

At $150, how much of that is the cost of the Windows 10 license that it comes with? I'm assuming that it doesn't meet the specifications required for Windows 11, too.

Interesting that it's using the Atom x5-Z8350. I've seen idle power consumption under 1.5W on these chips when software is setup properly.

I'm wondering if intel are still selling these chips or are they going to run out when supply dries up?

That processor was discontinued over a year ago.

For the profit choosing the cheapest Intel Atom available probably make sense, but the reality is that this CPU seems slow [1]. The Atom CPU only supports 2 GB RAM maximum, it's strange that it's advertised supporting up to 8 GB RAM. This CPU also categorized as mobile, given that most of the users probably use the PC+keyboard as PC replacement perhaps it's a poor choice of CPU.

Having said that I really think this PC+keyboard form factor is excellent for educational setup where the students can use with their own or lab monitor. It can also work with external portable screen [2].

The good choice of CPU for this low cost PC+keyboard would be the latest Celeron G9000. The Celeron CPU cost double around USD40 but for the price you get dual-core 3.4 GHz speed with up to 128 GB RAM supporting 4K display [3]. If someone can sell this PC+keyboard with this Celeron CPU with 64GB RAM at USD150 price it will probably sell like hot cakes. Perhaps a good opportunity for a crowd supply type of development.

[1]https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/8a7snc/is_the_atom...

[2]https://www.techradar.com/reviews/asus-zenscreen-mb16a-porta...

[3]https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/96163/i...

For me this sucks in keyboard form, because the primary use for something like this is a home pc connected to the TV for movies / music / videos.

If its in the keyboard I need a wire to connect to the TV.

So cheap PC and wireless keyboard is miles better.

>biodegradable

Okay, so is this biodegradable, or is it "biodegradable"?

For instance, PLA is "biodegradable" - it can only be composed in an industrial composting plants. Does this chassis simply disintegrate into plastic compounds, or is it reduced to bio-friendly materials (carbon dioxide, water, and biomass)? Can I throw it in my compost heap and have it rendered as biomass after a couple months? If not, it's going to take up room in a landfill.

What a trashy article. Just parroting the PR release. It would have taken 2 minutes on Google to find, at the least, the $99 Raspberry Pi 400.

Putting the fact there’s cheaper options aside, who was this made for? They made an affordable computer supposedly for people without computers but it doesn’t have a screen, as if those people have ready access to a monitor or TV, and a 4K one at that. Maybe that’s not the target demographic?

Raspberry Pi 400 costs $50 less.

This is an advertisement. There is no reporting in this article. And the product being advertised is not an interesting one.

That keyboard does not look like it will last many years. Can it be replaced economically?

It's not a custom keyboard. You can buy it on aliexpress here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32383644430.html

If this can double as a keyboard for an android device, I want one.

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