pi-top, the education technology company, has announced a new modular laptop designed to make experimenting, coding, and building electronics simple and fun. The new laptop is a powerful platform including a ‘sliding’ keyboard allowing users to access and engage with internal components.
“pi-top’s mission is to provide powerful, inspiring products that bring science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics to life,” said Jesse Lozano, CEO of pi-top. “Our newest-generation of modular laptops help achieve that goal. Now, anyone from young musicians to scientists to software developers to inventors can explore and create wonderful new projects using the pi-top laptop. We’re offering learning beyond the screen and keyboard, enabling wider exploration of computer science and basic electronics, ensuring that young learners have the opportunity to be inspired by a world of STEAM-based learning.”
Following the success of its first generation of products – which were sold in 80+ countries – the new modular laptop features several key enhancements, including:
– 14-inch 1080P Full High-Definition LCD screen
– Full-sized sliding keyboard to allow easy access to an in-built modular rail enabling custom-built invention projects
– The latest Raspberry Pi 3 micro-computer with custom Cooling Bridge
– 8-10 hours of battery life
– Built-in cloud management to provide additional storage and remote access to user data
‘Anyone from young musicians to scientists to software developers to inventors can explore and create wonderful new projects using the pi-top laptop.’
The new pi-top comes with an inventor’s kit, which includes all the components needed to create projects ranging from music to space themes. It also offers educational entertainment applications, including Minecraft for Pi and CEEDuniverse, a space exploration game designed by pi-top to help develop coding and computer science skills. End-users complete the final assembly of the pi-top laptop through a few simple steps, giving them a real-world, hands-on computing experience.
The makers claim the pi-topOS Polaris software suite is the only education technology platform endorsed by the Oxford Cambridge RSA Review Board (OCR) and comes with dozens of powerful coding and office apps. Using the software suite, users can browse the web, check emails and have access to a full Microsoft Office-compatible work suite.
As part of the development process, the pi-top R&D team incorporated feedback from over 1,000 teachers.
“As we look at the challenges facing this generation of children, our mission to inspire and develop the makers of tomorrow is more important than ever,” said Lozano. “This is why we have designed a creative platform that draws on multi-disciplinary STEAM strategies where new knowledge is constructed rather than transmitted.”
The system is priced at $319, and is also available without a Raspberry Pi for $284.99. To learn more about pi-top please visit: www.pi-top.com.
