This Chonky Cyberdeck Features a Mechanical Keyboard and an Amazing Battery Life of 12+ Hours
Maz_Baz’s HALGRID P-1 is the chonkiest cyberdeck we’ve ever seen, and we can’t help but love it.
The term “cyberdeck” originates from William Gibson’s iconic cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. In that book, hackers (called “deckers”) built their own laptop-like computers by cobbling together parts. Many people in the cyberdeck community build computers intended specifically to pay homage to those, but others are simply channeling the spirit of deckers to create custom computers that fit their own needs. A regular ol’ MacBook will work just fine for most people, but others value features that you won’t find on most laptops. For Redditor Maz_Baz, battery life and a great keyboard were obviously the most important factors, which is why they made the “HALGRID P-1” Raspberry Pi-based cyberdeck.
The first thing you notice about the HALGRID P-1 is how chonky and blocky the case is. It’s a bit like a cross between the original IBM ThinkPad 700T and some sort of industrial machine tool. Like early laptops and luggable computers, the screen seems positively miniscule compared to the rest of the computer. Simply put, it’s the last thing your average computer user today would want to carry around with them. But this design offers plenty of room for the features that are important to Maz_Baz, namely a gigantic battery that is good for at least 12 hours of use and a large mechanical keyboard. Maz_Baz doesn’t say what they plan to use HALGRID P-1 for, but it seems perfect for writers like myself.
Like most other cyberdecks, the HALGRID P-1 is based on a single-board computer — specifically a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. That keyboard is a Keychron K2, which connects to the Raspberry Pi via Bluetooth. The screen is an official Raspberry Pi 7” touchscreen display. Power comes from a massive Anker PowerCore battery pack that offers a fantastic 26,800mAh of capacity. A pair of headphones was cannibalized to act as speakers. All of those components are enclosed in a 3D-printed clamshell case. Maz_Baz has published the files for those 3D-printed parts on Thingiverse, so you can print them yourself to construct your own HALGRID P-1. Sure, this is a pretty niche design, but we can’t help but love the chunky ‘80s aesthetics and the practical features it offers.