Meet CHIP: the £6 Raspberry Pi rival

Raspberry Pi has a rival in the microcomputer stakes as C.H.I.P – the world’s first $9 (£5.82) PC – has been unveiled.

This tiny PC from Next Thing Co is a credit-card-sized (6cm long), single-board computer similar to the Raspberry Pi, but smaller and cheaper.  

Currently a project on Kickstarter, the super-small device connects to a display, mouse and keyboard for basic computing tasks. Its spec won’t have the Mac Pro running for the hills, but it comes loaded with 1GHz processor, 512MB DDR3 RAM and 4GB of storage. Connectivity-wise, you’ll find onboard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, USB, micro-USB and a 3.5mm audio output. All this at a price that’s literally as cheap as chips.

Users can browse the internet, watch video, play basic DOS games and work on spreadsheets or word documents with its built-in LibreOffice application.

Compared to Raspberry Pi, C.H.I.P. is more powerful than all the first-generation models, which ran at 700MHz with either 256MB or 512MB of RAM. However, Raspberry Pi 2 now runs a quad-core 900MHz ARM Cortex-A7 processor, but is priced at £30.  

The latest Raspberry Pi B model and previous generation B+ model also pack four USB slots and come with a microSD slot for storage. C.H.I.P. only rocks one USB port, and notably lacks a microSD slot to expand on its 4GB of storage. Still, it’s hard to knock at the price.

The most intriguing feature is the option to plug C.H.I.P.into a portable mobile-phone-like accessory that comes with a 4.3in touchscreen and Qwerty keyboard. Pocket C.H.I.P. allows users to take the open-source microcomputer on the go, which is rather smart.

A $9 pledge on Kickstarter will get you the C.H.I.P. board, and if you want the Pocket C.H.I.P. too that’ll set you back $49 (£31). Shipping is expected around December.