As I sit on a rather cramped train on my way back from Embedded World 2024, I thought I’d put together some quick pieces on things that caught my eye whilst walking around the massive exhibition halls.
When I first visited the Raspberry Pi stand in the morning there was a big crowd around one side and I didn’t really think much of it, so I looked through the examples of devices that used Raspberry Pi chips, modules, and boards and went on my way.
It turns out that what people were looking at was the Official Raspberry Pi 15.6” Monitor that they had on display for all to see. Is this some foreshadowing for a potential Pi 500 so that they can cover the entire setup for you with official Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi 15.6″ Monitor Specifications
We have some basic specifications from an included data sheet:
- 15.6 inch IPS LCD Panel
- 1920×1080 Resolution (30Hz?)
- Connection via HDMI
- Built-in Stereo Speakers
- 3.5mm Headphone Jack
- Powered via USB-C (1A at 5V required)
- Volume, brightness, and power buttons/controls
- Four VESA inserts
- Kickstand for table-top use
- Wall hanger
Being able to mount it in 3 different ways is nice and means it will cover most use cases and to be fair, if you need something else then you’re probably being picky..
The curious part for me though was that it mentioned 1920x1080p30 on the information sheet which would imply that it’s a 30Hz panel. I’m not sure if the decision was made based on the expected users (maybe in educational setting where faster refresh rates might not be deemed to be super important?) or if it was a way of compromising to keep the costs at a certain point?
That said, when looking at the screens themselves, the panels looked good. The actual quality of the display looked nicer than that on the Orange Pi that I have on my own desk!
Overall Thoughts
I can see a couple of areas where this type of monitor could be quite useful actually. The first is like I mentioned earlier. If you have a Pi 400, or if there’s an incoming Raspberry Pi 500 (the computer in a keyboard concept) then being able to purchase the Pi 500, a monitor, and a mouse and be ready to go is a great benefit to both Raspberry Pi and those end users.
The other would be the reason I actually picked up a similar monitor (albeit from Orange Pi, and it also has USB-C DisplayPort functionality) and that’s to have on your desk if you’re tinkering with SBCs/small computers and want something to sit on the side for quick debugging and testing. Not having a large dedicated monitor, or having to swap HDMI cables around has been a huge benefit for me personally!
I haven’t been able to see any pricing for this, though the official 7” touchscreen display seems to be retailing around $60 USD (plus taxes/shipping) so if I had to hazard a guess, we’re likely looking at around $100 USD for this new Raspberry Pi Monitor, but let’s see what happens when it starts hitting distributor’s websites.
Will you be picking one up yourself? If so, what for?!
