Argon ONE UP: A Laptop Powered by Raspberry Pi CM5
In an era where laptop manufacturers compete to see who can glue the battery down the hardest and solder everything possible, the guys at Argon Forty tried to make something nice.
They released the Argon ONE UP — a 14-inch laptop based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 (CM5). And yes, you can actually take it apart.
Video: Assembly and Review of Argon ONE UP
What kind of beast is this?
Argon Forty are known for their cool cases for the "Pi", but here they went further. It is a full aluminum chassis (about 2cm thick, weighing ~1.8kg), inside of which lives not a standard Raspberry Pi, but its industrial version — the Compute Module 5.
The main feature is modularity. The board with the processor isn't nailed down. Theoretically, when CM6 or CM7 comes out, you could just swap the module, keeping the case and peripherals.
Hardware
The heart of the system is the Broadcom BCM2712.
- CPU: 4 cores Cortex-A76 (2.4 GHz).
- RAM: up to 8 GB LPDDR4.
- Storage: eMMC up to 32 GB + M.2 NVMe slot.
The presence of M.2 is a killer feature. Booting from a slow SD card on a laptop in 2026 would be a pain, but here you can install a proper NVMe SSD.
The screen is an honest 14 inches, IPS, Full HD. Perfect for the terminal and coding.
A (Big) Spoonful of Tar
Now let's take off the rose-colored glasses.
1. Weight and Power. Almost 2kg (1.8kg) of weight with the processing power of a remote-controlled dildo? This kills the idea of mobility. Lugging around such weight for Raspberry Pi performance is a dubious pleasure.
2. Cooling. With such weight, the case is practically obligated to act as a heatsink. Judging by the assembly video, the top lid participates in heat dissipation. This means under load it will get quite hot. Keeping this on your lap will be impossible — the device becomes "usable" only on a table.
3. Ports. Only one Type-C. This is a fiasco. Type-C is more convenient and faster, but it's also the charging port. When it inevitably gets loose from constant plugging, you won't have a spare.
4. Screen. It claims to be IPS, but brightness and contrast matter too. You need to see this with your own eyes; you can't evaluate it on paper.
5. RAM. The RAM limits are noticeable. A large amount of RAM could have somewhat compensated for the not-so-fast I/O.
6. Marketing. "Modular, open-source, eco-friendly"... A typical set of clickbait. Modularity only works if the next module is made in the same form factor. Otherwise, it's just garbage.
Verdict
This device is not for daily life, but for experiments.
If you are looking for a laptop for work — pass on by. But if you need a portable lab for IoT, where you can poke at GPIO and Linux, and you aren't scared of a hot aluminum brick on your desk — the Argon ONE UP might be interesting.
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