Pentaform - the startup that's closing the digital gap

by Startacus Admin

The lowdown on Pentaform, the London-based startup that has created an easy-to-use and eco-friendly personal computer that is globally accessible

We won’t detail yet again the high cost that the convenience of plastic has on the environment, as we have done so many times previously, due to the encouraging number of startups being created to combat plastic waste in one form or another. But it’s high. It’s a high cost. 

Electronic waste is another big problem that we have written about before. Combine the two, and most people’s first thoughts will go to computers. There are always a few sitting around the dump when we go to drop off our mountain of wine bottles, and they will all end up sitting in a landfill, refusing to decompose. So what might be a solution?

London-based tech startup Pentaform has come up with one. Their AbacusBasic is a computer built entirely into a keyboard, which you simply plug into any monitor or TV and get to work. 

While not all of the insides can be made eco-friendly, and need to be recycled, the housing is a fully biodegradable, vegetable-based polymer that will break down in soil. The packaging it comes in is made of mushroom, and fully breaks down too, which is a nice touch. Pentaform says that this has a 63% smaller footprint compared to a normal desktop computer, helped by its 15-18 Watt efficiency.

The AbacusBasic comes with Linux Ubuntu (an operating system, like Windows) pre-installed and it is fully capable of running Windows 10. Its Intel quad-core processor and 2-4gb of RAM might not rival top tier gaming computers, but it is capable of running the usual software and multitasking, outputting in up to 4K resolution.

As all eco-friendly startups like to say, the AbacusBasic doesn’t cost the Earth, priced at only £125 (at the time of writing apparently discounted to £89, though the site also still mentions Christmas, so this might not be current). 

At this price, with these specs, this is almost as convenient as a laptop and could be a good starting computer for a child, for someone who rarely uses a computer, or even simply as a replacement computer for those who don’t need something to rival the Batcomputer.

 

 

 

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Published on: 22nd February 2021