The Raspberry Pi is a mini PC with a $35 price tag, a 700 MHz ARM11 processor, up to 512MB of RAM, and Ethernet, USB, and HDMI ports. It’s about the size of a pack of cards, and we’ve seen people cram the entire PC into a keyboard, a camera grip, and other tight spaces.

You can even transform the little desktop PC into a laptop with the aid of a cheap Motorola Lapdock. Or you could just build your own laptop from a briefcase, display, keyboard, and a few other components.

That’s the approach Instructables member SilverJimmy decided to take for his LapPi project.

LapPi

The end result is a pretty functional mobile PC, featuring WiFi, Bluetooth, a keyboard, touchpad, display, and batteries. SilverJimmy also threw in GPS, a mic, and stereo speakers for good measure.

The whole thing runs on a 10-pack of rechargeable AA batteries, although it can also use 8 alkaline AA batteries instead.

Sure, when you add up the cost of all the parts you could probably buy a cheap netbook for less money. But where’s the fun in that?

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6 replies on “LapPi project transforms a Raspberry Pi into a laptop (in a briefcase)”

    1. Nope. It used to have 256MB. They doubled that and it now has 512MB for the same price. They haven’t moved to 1GB just yet…

  1. I like the design this has. I’ve recently put some research effort into parts selection for a solar Pi and have posted them on the elinux page for the Raspberry Pi, laptop subsection: https://www.elinux.org/RaspberryPi_Laptop It includes other battery options (NiMh are good in the ubiquitous sense, but LiFePO4 could be a little more ubiquitous too).

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