Raspberry Pi is leaning into one of the year’s most visible DIY computing crazes: the cyberdeck. Ashley Whittaker, the company’s head of social, nodded to the surge today, saying Raspberry Pi “haven’t been able to get away from cyberdecks this year.” The compact, portable computers — often built into purses, jewelry boxes, thrift-store finds, and other repurposed shells — have become a fixture on TikTok and across social media. Now Raspberry Pi has published its own official guide for makers who want to assemble one of the homemade machines.
The move also arrives during a year of repeated Raspberry Pi price increases, driven by higher costs for RAM and other components. That may give the company even more reason to court both experienced tinkerers and newcomers drawn in by the cyberdeck trend. The 16GB Raspberry Pi 5 featured in Raspberry Pi’s official cyberdeck build guide saw its price jump by $100 in April — a steep increase that nearly matches the board’s original $120 launch price.
Raspberry Pi’s guide offers a full parts list and step-by-step assembly instructions, though its example build keeps things straightforward with a plain black Pelican-style case. Online creators, however, have shown that cyberdecks can be built from almost anything. Annike Tan, whose inventive builds have pulled in millions of views on TikTok, is still refining her “mermaid” purse cyberdeck with fresh design touches and has even added a USB hub.
