I feel sorry for any company trying to launch a new compute product during this window of extremely elevated RAM and SSD prices.
This looks well built with a lot of attention to detail. It’s impressive that the price isn’t higher for this level of machining and build quality on a low volume product.
I could see this doing well in some niche studios where they value design of all of the products in the office, but it’s a tough niche. The graphic and video designers are all going to be buying Apple. The CAD and engineering people want something with a real GPU. Most developers want a laptop that they can take with them. It’s nice that parts can be upgraded, but anchoring to that CPU is tough.
Yes, even memory manufacturers believe it is temporary which is part of the reason that supply has not increased to match demand and prices have spiked.
> even memory manufacturers believe it is temporary
Do they? Is that why they've committed to literally doubling their production capacity in 5 years?
> supply has not increased to match demand
Supply can't increase to match demand, first because it takes, as mentioned, 5 years to bring substantial new capacity onto the field. But also because the demand is artificial and can scale infinitely backed by fake money. Even with the expansion, it is likely the new capacity will be bought up at the still-inflated prices, because the US economy is in a debt-building hysteria and OpenAI doesn't give a fuck about how much it spends because it's not spending its own money. Reportedly OpenAI was making its obscene RAM purchasing agreements simply to deny it to competitors rather than because they actually wanted or needed it. This econ 101 understanding of supply and demand taught to children isn't helpful to describe what's happening in reality.
Cost of RAM and SSD seems like a secondary challenge. Trying to piss up a waterfall is more in line with the reality that products that are first about design and second about capability face when entering the current workstation and laptop markets that have been iterated on for decades and haven't seen a dramatic new redesign ever.
The closest such advance in recent years didn't happen and instead turned into the macbook neo. Apple could have released an OS for the iphone pro max model of phones that allow them to boot Mac OS when attached to a docking station. And sold a laptop formfactor docking station.
I have one of the units from the first run where 96GB of RAM was offered.
Personally speaking I was buying it primarily for the design aesthetic (an industrial design partner from Pentagram was involved), but I've come to enjoy the Workbench OS UI features and associated shortcuts; I use it as a secondary work machine for various data science applications.
I can attest to the general build quality which so far seems high to me.
There's a lot of WTF here, including paying $1400 for a Linux workstation with 32GB of RAM and what looks like a mobile CPU, along with an integral keyboard that seems like it would give you RSI just looking at it. Who on earth is buying this?
The form factor and "designed to run Workbench" bit made me think it was aimed at nostalgic Amiga enthusiasts without running afoul of whoever-owns-Commodores-trademarks-today.
I found the UI really interesting. Nice to see a group really trying something new. This really feels a lot like the raw experimentation of computer types and styles in the 80s.
I think they are going for the super premium polished user experience, yet they waste space with adding foreign window decorators to apps that are supposed to integrate them (Chrome, Zed). And not sure why having a single smallish window and tons of empty space is good practice, when tiling wms have shown how to manage lots of windows and large screen estate efficiently..
Nice design, but the website is vague. What about the actual tech specs (not simply GB of ram and SSD space) or a picture of the "user-replaceable" internals? How about a picture of the port layout? About the workbench operating system, the information is also surprisingly light.
Am I missing context here that others have that make this website sufficient?
Not sure on the first. Apparently almost all alumninum is recycled, and reused, as its melting point is super low compared to most metals, so its not quite as wasteful as it seems at the first glance.
iPhones are iPads have a milled CNC “unibody” as well… Being able to dictate where to have more thickness helps a ton on the luxury feel. Most of the chips are recycled anyway into new billets.
Unibody is a very appropriate technique for a small portable device that needs to be strong from force in many directions. It is overkill for a keyboard.
Overkill is the point. Same thing for iPads and iPhones. It gives a luxury feeling. That and Chinese manufacturing have made milling a very cost effective manufacturing method.
Cute, but for a device targeted at us "experts" (see the Pentagram design brief linked elsewhere in-thread), this feels like a missed opportunity to explore the last couple of decades of advancements in HID design that many of us have benefited from (e.g., a mouse designed off hand curvature, or a split keyboard). If you want to see computers for experts (albeit in a more restrained design space), look at Framework.
Dunno, they're promoting this to run their custom OS (which is Fedora based, but has brew apparently?) Not sure what is this, is this a cloud thing, hence the subscription? But the HW too expensive/powerful for that? Considering that is the main differentiator, yet they barely say anything about it, and it's quite hard to find screenshots, or any demos.
I got an unsolicited LinkedIn connection request from a Sales Rep at Caligra (who wrote in the note) offering to 'send one over' to me essentially as a "trial" of this workstation. Says a lot that this is a serious part of their sales strategy.
Good look. What are the advantages over MAC or cloud VMs? If it is $500~$1000 it could be a good gift. And is the current size a little big? Could it be put into a bag?
I felt as well that they miss their window. This kind of rectangular shape with keyboard + computer would be great actually for digital nomad / people going to coworking spaces, but looks way to heavy.
For a second, I thought that top part was like a tmux screen where I could run a multiplexer with agents and ... geez I'm tired, so much AI ugh. (Worst part is that I think I'd have fun with something like that)
So a toolbox attached with a keyboard that has opposite layout, some new shortcuts and an OS that can be reproduced easily. So what's the point? One can go for design and hardware but is this really something that stands it out in 2026? I was wondering what I would put in the toolbox, maybe earphones, mobile stand, stationary?
After seeing the price and the build quality, there's no more excuses for developers to suggest that they can't afford a Mac or Windows or Framework computer after buying this.
This should be the standard quality for Linux machines.
I feel sorry for any company trying to launch a new compute product during this window of extremely elevated RAM and SSD prices.
This looks well built with a lot of attention to detail. It’s impressive that the price isn’t higher for this level of machining and build quality on a low volume product.
I could see this doing well in some niche studios where they value design of all of the products in the office, but it’s a tough niche. The graphic and video designers are all going to be buying Apple. The CAD and engineering people want something with a real GPU. Most developers want a laptop that they can take with them. It’s nice that parts can be upgraded, but anchoring to that CPU is tough.
> window of extremely elevated RAM and SSD prices
Is it a window? It seems likely to me that we're going to be paying the LLM tax on all of our consumer electronics for the rest of our lives.
Yes, even memory manufacturers believe it is temporary which is part of the reason that supply has not increased to match demand and prices have spiked.
> even memory manufacturers believe it is temporary
Do they? Is that why they've committed to literally doubling their production capacity in 5 years?
> supply has not increased to match demand
Supply can't increase to match demand, first because it takes, as mentioned, 5 years to bring substantial new capacity onto the field. But also because the demand is artificial and can scale infinitely backed by fake money. Even with the expansion, it is likely the new capacity will be bought up at the still-inflated prices, because the US economy is in a debt-building hysteria and OpenAI doesn't give a fuck about how much it spends because it's not spending its own money. Reportedly OpenAI was making its obscene RAM purchasing agreements simply to deny it to competitors rather than because they actually wanted or needed it. This econ 101 understanding of supply and demand taught to children isn't helpful to describe what's happening in reality.
They cant outspend each other forever. And with all the datacenters not even being able to be hooked up compute isnt the problem, its powering it.
Cost of RAM and SSD seems like a secondary challenge. Trying to piss up a waterfall is more in line with the reality that products that are first about design and second about capability face when entering the current workstation and laptop markets that have been iterated on for decades and haven't seen a dramatic new redesign ever.
The closest such advance in recent years didn't happen and instead turned into the macbook neo. Apple could have released an OS for the iphone pro max model of phones that allow them to boot Mac OS when attached to a docking station. And sold a laptop formfactor docking station.
I have one of the units from the first run where 96GB of RAM was offered.
Personally speaking I was buying it primarily for the design aesthetic (an industrial design partner from Pentagram was involved), but I've come to enjoy the Workbench OS UI features and associated shortcuts; I use it as a secondary work machine for various data science applications.
I can attest to the general build quality which so far seems high to me.
Here are some more informative photos:
https://www.pentagram.com/work/caligra-c100-developer-termin...
So from these pictures they just put an off the shelf minipc in a aluminium case and ship it with a matching keyboard.
I accidentally read "performative photos" and it still made sense. Mouse looks painful
> Mouse looks painful
There is something very "Apple 1-button mouse" about it, for sure
There's a lot of WTF here, including paying $1400 for a Linux workstation with 32GB of RAM and what looks like a mobile CPU, along with an integral keyboard that seems like it would give you RSI just looking at it. Who on earth is buying this?
The form factor and "designed to run Workbench" bit made me think it was aimed at nostalgic Amiga enthusiasts without running afoul of whoever-owns-Commodores-trademarks-today.
But https://caligra.com/workbench/#pricing suggests it's an awkwardly-reskinned Fedora with a $240/year subscription fee.
So, er, yes. WTF?
Who came up with this and then designed it around a non-standard keyboard layout... Jail is the only answer.
Also it's close to ANSI layout, what about ISO? I want a german E1 layout(§), thank you very much.
Im mostly curious if R&D was self funded or its a problem of kickstarter-like bakers now? This wont pay off
underwhelming specs, price, ergonomics. marketed for pros, but gated from them by a $240/yr contract for a fedora reskin.
another step back towards unix I guess, but bell didn't charge yearly.
(edit, remembered it wasnt at&t)
I found the UI really interesting. Nice to see a group really trying something new. This really feels a lot like the raw experimentation of computer types and styles in the 80s.
https://customer-i8ks9tgi5lkllj0i.cloudflarestream.com/c60aa...
I think they are going for the super premium polished user experience, yet they waste space with adding foreign window decorators to apps that are supposed to integrate them (Chrome, Zed). And not sure why having a single smallish window and tons of empty space is good practice, when tiling wms have shown how to manage lots of windows and large screen estate efficiently..
What I really really really do not understand is the toolbox - it seemed like an LCD screen at first glance, but, no.-
Looks cute, but unsure what it does and why they made it and how i can use for what...
Site looks good but it might mean c100 have no substance, thus at least had to make the site and their gadget pretty.
Famous Design House™ decided to make a custom computer. They took a nice PC, made a nice metal box for it, and attached another box to the back.
You can put things in this box, which is an unusual accessory for a computer.
They also made an OS which will cost a lot of money per seat per year.
Then they took many clean smooth fingerprint-free photos and made a web site to try to sell it.
The web site makes the box look nice but does a poor job explaining the rest.
Ty for the info.
It sounds similar to System76, where they make pretty PC and OS (like Pop! OS) that goes with it
Oh yes, no matter how good a product is, if marketing sucks, it might not roll.
>unsure what it does and why they made it and how i can use for what...
its a computer. it does computer things, and you can use it for whatever computer things you want.
I’m not sure what you mean, it’s a mini PC. You can use it for anything you want.
The esthetic and form factor is the appeal
Nice design, but the website is vague. What about the actual tech specs (not simply GB of ram and SSD space) or a picture of the "user-replaceable" internals? How about a picture of the port layout? About the workbench operating system, the information is also surprisingly light.
Am I missing context here that others have that make this website sufficient?
Usually the ads on hacker news are accompanied by a press release or a technical writeup so that I at least learn something new.
Nice, I've always wanted my desktop PC to be coupled to the keyboard.
We're truly living through the cash grab era. $1400 + a yearly subscription for an extremely vague product that will likely lose support in 2-5 years.
OS subscription is only for Enterprise accounts. I have one of the first units and I don't pay anything for the OS
Only for non-commercial usage tho.
> The case is CNC milled from a solid block of aluminium
What a waste of material and machining time!
Not sure on the first. Apparently almost all alumninum is recycled, and reused, as its melting point is super low compared to most metals, so its not quite as wasteful as it seems at the first glance.
Why?
iPhones are iPads have a milled CNC “unibody” as well… Being able to dictate where to have more thickness helps a ton on the luxury feel. Most of the chips are recycled anyway into new billets.
Unibody is a very appropriate technique for a small portable device that needs to be strong from force in many directions. It is overkill for a keyboard.
Overkill is the point. Same thing for iPads and iPhones. It gives a luxury feeling. That and Chinese manufacturing have made milling a very cost effective manufacturing method.
Cute, but for a device targeted at us "experts" (see the Pentagram design brief linked elsewhere in-thread), this feels like a missed opportunity to explore the last couple of decades of advancements in HID design that many of us have benefited from (e.g., a mouse designed off hand curvature, or a split keyboard). If you want to see computers for experts (albeit in a more restrained design space), look at Framework.
Dunno, they're promoting this to run their custom OS (which is Fedora based, but has brew apparently?) Not sure what is this, is this a cloud thing, hence the subscription? But the HW too expensive/powerful for that? Considering that is the main differentiator, yet they barely say anything about it, and it's quite hard to find screenshots, or any demos.
This is an expensive design object that just happens to contain a laptop.
Comparable to https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um790-pro-m...
but much larger, heavier and with a specific keyboard.
This looks like a cursed mix of different Apple eras. And has a paid Linux distro inside, amazingly powered by Homebrew of all package managers.
it looks like it took design inspiration from the Apple ADB mouse: https://i0.wp.com/applerescueofdenver.com/wp-content/uploads...
Price aside, I'm all for mobile form factors that are not laptops. Laptops are an ergonomic disaster.
But I'm not a fan of connecting it to the keyboard instead. Why not just a mini pc with a built in battery?
Are there any independent reviews of the c100? I want to know more about the keypads and bindings they added.
I got an unsolicited LinkedIn connection request from a Sales Rep at Caligra (who wrote in the note) offering to 'send one over' to me essentially as a "trial" of this workstation. Says a lot that this is a serious part of their sales strategy.
I forgot all about the slabtop form factor: https://www.howtogeek.com/what-is-a-slabtop/
Can you get one with the numeric keypad on the right side?
Good look. What are the advantages over MAC or cloud VMs? If it is $500~$1000 it could be a good gift. And is the current size a little big? Could it be put into a bag?
But is mobility really what they were going for? I’m not sure, because they also purposefully increased the size and weight by adding the frunk
I felt as well that they miss their window. This kind of rectangular shape with keyboard + computer would be great actually for digital nomad / people going to coworking spaces, but looks way to heavy.
> digital nomad / people going to coworking spaces
Laptops with built-in screens make infinitely more sense for this population.
For a second, I thought that top part was like a tmux screen where I could run a multiplexer with agents and ... geez I'm tired, so much AI ugh. (Worst part is that I think I'd have fun with something like that)
My fingers are curling up at the look of the angle on that keyboard. I love the idea and the aesthetic, but I could never use this full time.
I smell Amiga, especially if it is "designed to run Workbench."
Looks extraordinarily unergonomic and I don't get why I would need a number pad as a developer.
As someone who does CAD on the side, I couldn't live without one.
The tray is really funny, but i doubt it'll find many customers
tool storage -> egpu dock
You'd need better ventilation for that, surely?
The children yearn for the Osborne.
Why does it have a frunk?
You can put your w in there
why does it come with attached storage unit for my calipers?
Cuz you're a MAKER, just see the box of BOJACK-brand screws on top of the power supply in the action shot.
So a toolbox attached with a keyboard that has opposite layout, some new shortcuts and an OS that can be reproduced easily. So what's the point? One can go for design and hardware but is this really something that stands it out in 2026? I was wondering what I would put in the toolbox, maybe earphones, mobile stand, stationary?
The mouse seems like the most obvious choice for mobility. Other than that: pens? Or maybe lock the phone inside for a distraction free environment
> Caligra Workbench Operating System
This hardware runs an operating system that requires a subscription for commercial use? https://caligra.com/workbench/#pricing
And they don't define what they consider to be commercial anywhere that I can see. It's not mentioned at all in https://caligra.com/legal/terms-of-sale/
Does checking work email count? Or buying something from Amazon?
Basically Teenage Engineering doing a laptop.
I'm glad PC manufacturers are taking snack drawers seriously. A shot of the IO would be nice and is the computer in the keyboard or in the snack box?
After seeing the price and the build quality, there's no more excuses for developers to suggest that they can't afford a Mac or Windows or Framework computer after buying this.
This should be the standard quality for Linux machines.
My RSI flared up just looking at this keyboard. Hard pass!
flagged. this should be on showHN. pretty much an Advertisement
Wait, what's the ruler that can stay over any open program, in the demo video?*
Is it coming from another project or is it built-in?
I also like the multi-modal scratchpad on the bottom half of the screen.
Edit: ok this is not a distro in the classical sense.
Edit 2: call me perv. but I'd love to see the back of the box where all the connectors are.
* link: https://customer-i8ks9tgi5lkllj0i.cloudflarestream.com/c60aa...