Argon 40 is better known for its Argon ONE Raspberry Pi enclosures, but the company has now launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Argon ONE UP 14-inch laptop powered by the Raspberry Pi CM5 module.
We’ve already covered a range of Raspberry Pi 4/5 laptops, but existing models are either rather thick or the Raspberry Pi 5 is placed on the side of a laptop shell, not ideal for portability. The Argon ONE UP looks like a proper laptop, as thin as a typical consumer laptop, while keeping Raspberry Pi features such as access to the GPIO pins.
The description is rather garbage, like on all recent Kickstarter campaigns we’ve covered, with low-resolution GIF animations and text in photos (instead of actual text), but I did my best to reconstruct the Argon ONE UP specifications:
- SoM – Raspberry Pi CM5 (included or BYO)
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2712
- CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A76 @ 2.4 GHz
- GPU – VideoCore VII
- Memory – 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR4X RAM
- Storage – 0GB (CM5 Lite), 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB eMMC flash
- Wireless – Optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0
- SoC – Broadcom BCM2712
- Storage
- MicroSD card slot
- M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x1 socket for M.2 NVMe SSD
- Display – 14-inch IPS display with 1920×1200 resolution @ 60 Hz
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60
- Camera – 2MP front-facing camera/webcam
- Audio – 2-mic array + stereo speakers
- USB
- 2x USB 3.1 Type-A ports
- 2x USB 2.0 Type-C modified ports for 40-pin GPIO expansion module (USB 2.0 data ports when the module is not connected)
- User Input – QWERTY keyboard and touchpad
- Misc
- Built-in fan
- Argon THRML Heatsink for CPU and M.2 NVMe
- Power Supply
- USB Type-C PD port up to 45 Watts
- 4780 mAh rechargeable battery (in photo of prototypes)
- Dimensions – TBD (Aluminum casing)
The laptop can run Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu, and other Debian flavors supported by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5. The internal design is made of a large carrier board and two I/O boards for the connectors. It will probably not match the price/performance ratio of Intel/AMD laptops, but many fans of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem will be happy to have a proper Raspberry Pi CM5 laptop.
Argon 40 has just launched the ONE UP on Kickstarter with a lowly 12,400 HKD funding target (about $1580 US) that has already been easily surpassed. Rewards start at about $331 for the Argon ONE UP Laptop Shell “Early Bird” reward with a 40-PIN GPIO Module, but without a CM5 module, and $401 for an Argon ONE UP Core laptop with the CM5 Lite with 8GB RAM and a wireless module, and a 256 GB M.2 NVMe drive. The shipping fee is not mentioned, and deliveries are scheduled to start by October 2025.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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