A micro-PC threatens to make the Raspberry Pi look like a pricey model. Next Thing Co. recently announced a Kickstarter campaign for Chip, a $9 micro-PC shipping in 2016. The small device is powered by an a ARM R8 Cortex A8 processor (1GHz) from Allwinner. Besides the Mali-400 graphics, 512MB RAM, and 4GB storage are on board. It also has built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Chip will come with a Raspbian-like Linux-based operating system pre-installed. Chip measures 2.3-inches by 1.5 inches.

The board has one USB port, a microUSB port for power, and camera sensor support. There's also a composite connection for video, but there are adapters available for HDMI and VGA.

C.H.I.P. can be used with with LibreOffice to edit spreadsheets, create word documents, or craft presentations. You can also the Chromium browser to surf the web.

In addition to the two video adapters, Chip also has its own portable peripheral called the Pocket Chip. The $40 device includes a 4.3-inch touchscreen with 470-by-272 resolution, keyboard, a 3,000 mAH battery, and GPIO breakouts for those times you need to prototype on the go.