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0 pointsgeerlingguy1mo ago0 comments

It's more like a portable Raspberry Pi with better efficiency and more IO. And hopefully even better mainline Linux support out of the gate.

The key question will be how much it costs. Beyond $250-300, it's a lot more of a niche product. Below $250 would be very interesting. I don't think it will be below $300. With current memory and storage pricing, probably $350-400 is more realistic :(

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9 comments · 3 top-level

fc417fc8021mo ago· 3 in thread

Does it need to be so cheap? With these specs it would make a decent replacement for a low end general purpose computer. The older NUC I use for a lot of stuff has similar-to-worse specs than this thing does.

karlgkk1mo ago

If it’s not cheap, then what differentiates it from a $150 Linux laptop and $30 dongle

fc417fc8021mo ago

That's exactly my point! It's a low to midrange computer with extremely high portability including a grayscale display. Where else are you going to get that functionality combined as a single unit?

7 more replies

Glohrischi1mo ago

This is not a general purpose computer though. There is no keyboard and you would need to start adding stuff. The volumne then would be bulky as hell. Any small form factor laptop would be cheaper and easier and also has better specs.

A cheap laptop with display and keyboard, which would be capable of all that stuff the flipper can do, starts at 200 Euros.

bigiain1mo ago· 2 in thread

Its got 8gb of ddr5 in it. That's already a huge chunk of $300 - I'm not even sure they will get the BOM down to $300.

I'm guessing it'll be $1000 or so. (Which is good for me. Well above my impulse buy threshold. I don't regret buying my Flipper Zero, because it was within my impulse buy and not regret it threshold.)

geerlingguyOP1mo ago

I forgot it has a battery as well, so add on the extra power and charging circuitry. Yeah, probably north of $500, but I can't imagine it being closer to $1000 :/

Dylan168071mo ago

That extra circuitry is like a dollar retail. That should not be a significant impact on the price. For the battery itself, three 18650s would add $5 to the BOM so I'm not expecting a huge difference from that either.

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rasz1mo ago· 1 in thread

>better mainline Linux support

haha

rasz1mo ago

for reference

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/chinese-semiconductor-...

https://securityonline.info/open-source-standoff-github-free...

https://hackaday.com/2026/01/05/github-disables-rockchips-li...

https://legal.gpl-violations.narkive.com/gAoCqXFb/rockchip-r...

https://mastodon.social/@geerlingguy/113698847221483936 "I was told Rockchip no longer considers RK3588 to be an “open source” chip"

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