Raspberry Pi 400
Ranked 2 of 3 keyboard computers by recommenders
Recommended as a capable, ready-to-use Linux computer built into a keyboard, especially for first computers. Most common caveat: it feels slow by today's standards.
Recommended as a capable, ready-to-use Linux computer built into a keyboard, especially for first computers. Most common caveat: it feels slow by today's standards.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good first computer for children
“More than enough to keep them entertained and teach them the basics.”
Comment from 9 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer?” “Personally I strongly recommend the Pi 400 for a first computer.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “The Misuses of the University” Works out of the box
“A Pi400 is a very capable 4GB ram Linux machine, working out of the box.”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Raspberry Pi Zero 3W and Pi 4 Model A spotted in device trees” “It's been working pretty well.”
Comment from 4 Jun 2026 in “Retro-Tech Parenting”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow by today's standards
“would smoke classic workstations of yesteryear, and yet by today's standards it's slow”
Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “What Sun got wrong”
Other keyboard computers people recommend
The two most recommended other keyboard computers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP Keyboard Computer with Ryzen AI | 10 | 12 | 45% | 1 | — | — |
| Raspberry Pi 400This page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 6 | — | — |
| Raspberry Pi 500+ | 6 | 4 | 60% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I love mine, with its built in keyboard”
“A Pi400 is a very capable 4GB ram Linux machine, working out of the box.”
“would smoke classic workstations of yesteryear, and yet by today's standards it's slow”
“It's been working pretty well.”
“my favorite (overall) is the Pi400”
“Not including a pointing device in those was silly of the rpi foundation.”
“Personally I strongly recommend the Pi 400 for a first computer.”
“But for a cheaper project recipe:”
“folding full time with reasonable success”
“Raspberry Pi 400 did it (TM) , minus the AI PC crap.”
“More than enough to keep them entertained and teach them the basics.”
“the Pi edition was a very compromised experience for Minecraft”
“Simple, reliable, easy to replace.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.