The world's first laptop computer which can be built using a 3D printer has gone on sale. Dubbed the Pi-Top, it is the latest in a series of unusual products that can be 3D printed, including synthetic human skin for grafts and a handgun.
The Pi-Top won't officially be launched until next May, but the home-made laptop has already tallied up £76,000-worth of pre-orders. That may be because it costs half the price of its conventionally-manufactured rivals, the Daily Telegraph suggests.
Customers will need to own or have access to a 3D printer, but these can cost as little as £215. The Pi-Top kit costs £180 and includes a template to tell the printer how to build the laptop from paper-thin sheets of plastic.
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Only the plastic parts of the laptop can be printed – included in the pack is a screen and Raspberry Pi circuitry. The printer creates the rest.
The project was designed in the UK by two graduates in their twenties, Ryan Dunwoody and Jesse Lozano. They used crowd-funding site Indiegogo to raise the money to put the project into action.
While the Pi-Top is a fully functioning laptop, the pair came up with it as a tool to teach people about how computing works. By putting the device together – it can be done in "an evening", they say – users learn the basics of hardware design.
It is a "product designed to teach you how to make other products", says Lozano.
Dunwoody explains: "Instead of just using the laptop as a device that you type into, with this one you can understand how the screen actually works, how the battery gets charged and how it switches between the battery and mains power supplies."
He added: "If something breaks, you can instantly fix it. A lot of parents are buying it for their kids because they see it as a really good way for them to start understanding the technology behind the devices they are using every day."
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