Sipeed Univels the Lichee E-book 4A, a Pocket book for the “RISC-V Explorer”

Sipeed has introduced a brand new entry in its Lichee RISC-V household, this time placing its high-performance Lichee 4A RISC-V system-on-module right into a full-size laptop computer chassis: the Lichee E-book 4A.

“Lichee E-book 4A is a high-performance RISC-V light-weight laptop computer developed by Sipeed,” the corporate writes of its newest launch, “designed to permit RISC-V builders to expertise the applying of RISC-V merchandise in actual life forward of time. The software program assist for Lichee E-book 4A can be fairly complete, with Debian because the default working system, supporting Chrome browser, VSCode IDE, KiCAD PCB drawing software program, Workplace software program, 4K participant, numerous sport emulators, assembly the wants of each day work and research.”

The system-on-module on the coronary heart of the brand new laptop computer is the Lichee 4A, which the corporate has already put into compact clusters, a convertible pill, a video games console, and the Lichee Console 4A — the corporate’s first Lichee 4A-powered laptop computer, designed round a compact 7″ type issue with a considerably cramped 72-key keyboard and IBM ThinkPad-style pointing machine. This offers the laptop computer a T-Head 1520 system-on-chip, with 4 XuanTie C910 RISC-V processor cores operating at as much as 2.5GHz, a fifth digital sign processing (DSP) core, an Creativeness Applied sciences BXM-4-64 graphics processor, and a 4 tera-operations per second (TOPS) coprocessor for machine studying and synthetic intelligence workloads.

Two variants of the laptop computer are deliberate, one that includes 8GB of LPDDR4X reminiscence and 32GB of eMMC storage with the opposite upgrading to 16GB of LPDDR4X and 128GB of eMMC storage. Each embrace assist for an M.2 SATA SSD in 2280 type issue, a 14″ 1920×1200 show with mini-HDMI output for an exterior monitor, an built-in VGA digital camera, and an 88-key keyboard with conventional touchpad pointing machine. There’s built-in Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, one every of USB 3.0 Sort-A, USB 3.0 Sort-B, and USB 2.0 Sort-A ports plus a microSD Card slot, all housed in a plastic case alongside a 4,500mAh battery.

Whereas Sipeed has opened orders for the laptops, although, it is asking patrons to mood their expectations just a little. “Excessive-performance RISC-V shopper electronics are nonetheless within the early phases as of 2024,” the corporate warns. “Lichee E-book 4A is especially aimed toward RISC-V builders with at the very least proficient Linux working expertise, and atypical shoppers might not have the ability to use it instantly. If you’re an atypical consumer with out Linux expertise, please don’t buy.”

The Lichee E-book 4A is up for pre-order on the Sipeed AliExpress retailer at $298.40 for the 8GB/32GB mannequin or $348.80 for the 16GB/128GB model, each representing a claimed 20 p.c low cost over its last retail value. Those that have already got a Lichee 4A SOM, in the meantime, can purchase the remainder of the laptop computer for $188.80. The identical chassis can be suitable, the corporate has confirmed, with its earlier Lichee 3A and newest Lichee 5A systems-on-modules.