HP’s EliteBoard G1a is a Ryzen-powered Windows 11 PC in a membrane keyboard

As a Windows system integrated with a functional membrane keyboard, the HP EliteBoard G1a announced today is a more accessible alternative to other keyboard PCs.

The Commodore 64 made the keyboard-PC famous in the 1980s, but the keyboard-PC space has been dominated by the Raspberry Pi. In 2019, the single-board computer (SBC) maker released the Raspberry Pi 400, which is essentially a Raspberry Pi 4 SBC in a case that also functions as a keyboard for the system. USB, HDMI, and Ethernet ports, along with a GPIO header and native Linux distribution of the Raspberry Pi OS operating system add up to a low-end desktop experience that costs just $100. Next up is the Raspberry Pi 500 with a Pi 5 powered by a 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A76 inside, and the Pi 500+, which has an NVMe SSD, instead of microSD, storage and is built inside with a discreet mechanical keyboard (it’s also twice as expensive at $200).

But Raspberry Pis appeals widely to tinkerers, tinkerers, and Linux fans, making Pi-as-a-desktop a niche product with a significant learning curve for newcomers.

Alternatively, HP’s EliteBoard will bring Windows and a more powerful x86 architecture to the keyboard-PC form factor. HP says the EliteBoard will support Windows 11 Pro for Business and an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series processor with up to 50 TOP NPUs. The device will be sold with a 32W internal battery and is part of Microsoft’s PC Copilot+ program.