Raspberry Pi has been used in a number of mini laptops that run on tiny single-board computers. But a recent one, developed by hgTerm, could be one of the best DIY mini PCs made till date.
The pocket-sized hgTerm computer comes with a 4-inch touchscreen display and rocks a 270-degree hinge that can be flipped backwards to use the device as a stand.
There is a thumb keyboard and the entire hardware is encased in a 3D printed cover. The handheld computer runs on a battery that can last for hours at once and the whole thing run on Raspberry Pi 3.
Even though using a Raspberry Pi Zero would have saved a lot of space, the performance would have taken a hit. So the developer decided to go with the 3B+ to increase performance at the expense of higher power usage.
The developer of the project, Igor Brkić, says that the hgTerm can be used for a variety of activities from Arduino programming to running PlayStation games.
He has also shared videos of the same that you can check out:
To make the hgTerm more compact, a few Raspberry Pi components were stripped including the Ethernet port, HDMI port, and most of the USB ports — simply because you don’t need them in a mini laptop.
The developer also placed a small copper heatsink on top of the processor for thermal management. Overall, the device fits nicely in the hand, despite being quite thick and heavy (owing to its huge battery).
You can check more details on the same here.
