Weekly Tech Recap - № 274 - Raspberry Pi 400, Razer Book 13, DJI Mini 2, Fortnite on iOS and Zen 3 Ryzen

Raspberry Pi 400

Raspberry Pi 400. © Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Old-timers will remember the days, back in the 70s and 80s, when most consumer PC were a unit with an integrated keyboard. Remember the TRS-80, the Atari 400/800, the TI 99/4, the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the Sinclair ZX, the Amstrad CPC, the BBC Micro, the Acorn Archimedes? Well, the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s newest computer is a throwback to our old buddies, and in fact inspired by them: the internal project code-name was “Commodore 64” for a while. Now called the Raspberry Pi 400, the computer is based on the Raspberry Pi 4 architecture and components and has 4GB of LPDDR4 memory. The keyboard is identical to the existing Raspberry Pi keyboard. The motherboard, however, is different from the Pi 4, long and spaced out, and covered with a large metal sheet to act as a passive heatsink. This is what has allowed to boost the clock speed of the BCM2711 SoC from 1.5GHz to 1.8GHz, making the Pi 400 faster than the Pi 4 (and designer Simon Martin says there’s enough spare thermal capacity left over to overclock). At the rear of the housing are the input/output GPIO, a microSD slot, two 4k30 micro HDMI ports, a USB Type-C port for power, two USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 2.0 port and a gigabit Ethernet port. The kit bundle (including HDMI cable, mouse, power cable, Pi OS microSD card and Beginner’s Guide manual) is going for USD100 and the computer only, for USD70. At launch, the Foundation is supporting English (UK and US), French, Italian, German, and Spanish keyboard layouts, and promises to support more languages in the near future. Due to compliance certifications, the Pi 400 is currently only available in Europe, becoming available in Canada only in 2021 😞. While you wait for yours, you can reflect on the fact that the Pi 400 is almost one million times more powerful than the Commodore 64 from 1982, at a fraction of the price (the C64 cost USD595 in 1982, or USD1,605 in today’s money). We’ve come a long way!

⇨ YouTube, “Raspberry Pi 400: New All-in-One Pi!”

⇨ YouTube, “The Raspberry Pi 400 Teardown.”

⇨ Hackster.io, Gareth Halfacree, “Hands-On with the Raspberry Pi 400, the first ‘consumer product’ Raspberry Pi.”

⇨ Ars Technica, Jim Salter, “Raspberry Pi 400 review—the under-$100 desktop PC you didn’t know you needed.”

⇨ Raspberry Pi Blog, Eben Upton, “Raspberry Pi 400: the $70 desktop PC.”

Razer Book 13

Razer Book 13. © Razer Inc.

The boundary between gaming and work computers is getting blurry, to the point that brands like Razer, which have traditionally targeted gamers, are now making forays into the productivity market. And oftentimes, all you need to do is to give up the “little black dress” and the gaudy RGB light show to turn a gaming laptop into a perfectly respectably work machine. This is what Razer did to its Blade Stealth 13, transforming it into the very professional Razer Book 13, which looks like a MacBook Pro and comes in 3 versions. The base model, at USD1,200, comes with a 1920 × 1200 display, a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. For USD1,600, you get a Core i7-1165G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 1920 × 1200 touch display. Finally, USD2,000 gets you a UHD+ 3840 × 2400 touch display. Available this month. And, of course, there is no law that says that you can’t game on your Razer Book 13…

⇨ The Verge, Monica Chin, “Razer’s new Razer Book 13 is a productivity laptop with a 16:10 screen.”

DJI Mini 2

DJI Mini 2. © DJI.

The latest version of the DJI Mini essentially vaults from 2.7K 25/30 fps video to 4K 60 fps. Also importantly, WiFi technology is traded in for OcuSync 2.0 proprietary transmission technology, increasing communication distance from 4km to 10km. Impressive! Its weight (1g under the 250g threshold for compulsory registration with the American Federal Aviation Authority), and flight time (about 30 minutes) are the same. The Mini 2, which costs USD50 more than its predecessor, has no new sensors; the mapping and assisted landing functions stay the same. The drone Mavic Mini 2 is available for purchase on the DJI on-line store and at authorized retailers for USD450, while the î combo, which includes the Mavic Mini 2, three batteries, a charger, a carrying case and a remote, sells for USD600.

⇨ YouTube, “DJI Mini 2 - 4K video, 10km range, 31m flight time, less than 249g drone.”

⇨ DP Review, Kara Murphy, “Review: the DJI Mavic Mini 2 is the perfect drone for beginners.”

Return of Fortnite on iOS

© iStock.

Thanks to the cloud, platform-related gaming differences are becoming more nebulous. This is why Fortnite could come back to iOS through a more circuitous route: the on-line gaming platform GeForce Now. The Nvidia service hasn’t yet been announced for iOS, but the BBC says that an announcement should be made by the end of the year. GeForce Now will apparently run in Safari, the web browser, rather than as a standalone app, because of Apple’s restrictions on game streaming services. Apple banned Fortnite in August after the game’s developer, Epic, added an in-app purchases option that offered lower prices but didn’t give Apple its typical 30 percent cut. Since then, the two companies have been locked in a truly “epic” legal battle. Apple so far has won a ruling that allowed it to continue blocking Fortnite.

⇨ The Verge, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Fortnite will reportedly be playable on iOS again through Nvidia’s GeForce Now.”

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen, first reviews

© AMD.

AMD has beaten Intel’s performance advantage in desktop PCs with its new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. That’s the verdict from a range of reviewers this week that have been testing AMD’s flagship USD 799 Ryzen 9 5950X with its 16 cores and 32 threads. The Ryzen 9 5950X steals the performance crown from Intel in gaming in most tests. Even the entry level Ryzen 5 5600X offers some impressive performance at just USD 299.

⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “AMD has Ryzen up to beat Intel with its new Zen 3 CPUs.”