RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers, is ready to supply the latest-generation pi-top modular laptop, launched today by the pi-top organisation, featuring enhancements to assist learning and boost usability.

The latest pi-top comes with a 1080p full-HD 14-inch display, up to 8-hours battery life, a full-sized sliding keyboard, and the Raspberry Pi 3 with state-of-the-art compute capability and extra power for maker projects. The laptop is supplied with the display installed in the chassis, ready to assemble by connecting the Raspberry Pi 3 and accompanying hardware using the cables supplied. Users can then take advantage of the pi-top ecosystem, comprising software, accessories and teaching/learning aids, to understand computer science and coding principles, and build their own maker projects.

The sliding keyboard provides access to the Raspberry Pi 3 and a magnetic board-mounting rail, which allows users to push their learning further by expanding the hardware. The advanced inventor’s kit, supplied with the new pi-top, provides expansion opportunities including LED lights, modular microphones and speaker accessories, and pi-topPROTO+ – a HAT-compatible board containing a breadboard for solder-less prototyping of electronic circuits.

“The pi-top modular laptop is delivered as a straightforward self-build project that gives a good grasp of computer-science basics, and a launchpad for rich learning experiences in software and hardware,” said Simon Duggleby, Senior Product Marketing Manager at RS. “The latest version is more powerful, with greater usability, and on its official global launch day, today, we are ready to fulfil customers’ orders.”

To help users unleash the new laptop’s extra features and capabilities, the proven pi-topOS Polaris software suite contains purpose-built teaching apps, including the pi-topCLASSROOM customisable lesson-plan creator, pi-topCODER, and pi-topPROTO physical-computing examples. Users can also take advantage of familiar tools like Scratch and CEEDuniverse, which help learn coding concepts, and powerful built-in utilities like Google office suite and Chromium. pi-topOS Polaris is the only education technology platform fully endorsed by the UK Oxford Cambridge RSA (OCR) examination board.

The new pi-top is available to order immediately from RS in EMEA and available shortly in the Asia Pacific region.