Rabbit's Cyberdeck is a modern take on a netbook
When you think of an AI-forward PC, you might think of something like NVIDIA's $3,999 DGX Spark — a computer with enough computing power to run complex large language models locally. That's not what Rabbit is trying to build with Project Cyberdeck. Instead, the company's goal is to produce a device tailored for vibe coding, and Engadget was given an exclusive first look at the upcoming PC. Rabbit began working on Project Cyberdeck after the company's CEO, Jesse Lyu, saw how much his software engineers were using Claude Code. Lyu thought a small form factor PC, like the netbooks that were popular in the late aughts, with a command line interface would be ideal for on-the-go vibe coding, but when he went online to look for something that fit the bill, he was disappointed."They all come with shitty rubber dome keyboards," Lyu says of low-cost PCs like the latest Chromebooks, which use flexible silicone sheets under their keys to save on space and cost. "They're not something you would enjoy typing on for an extended period of time." So Rabbit decided to build its own device. For inspiration, Lyu and company looked to an unlikely source: the Sony Vaio P. The Cyberdeck takes inspiration from the Sony Vaio P. SonySony's netbook was only briefly available from the start of 2009 to about the end of 2010. At the time, the 8-inch Vaio P was the world's lightest netbook, weighing just 1.4 pounds, but it had a host of issues. It was also expensive, costing considerably more than other Intel Atom notebooks of the time. In 2009, the most affordable Vaio P would set you back $900 (about $1,365 adjusted for inflation). With Project Cyberdeck, Rabbit is aiming for a device that costs about $500, and hopefully avoids a similar fate.I saw a few early renders of Project Cyberdeck, which Rabbit isn't ready to share publicly yet. Imagine a cross between the Rabbit R1, Vaio P and the original Nintendo DS. It looks cute. All the renders had four USB-C ports to allow users to connect the device to external monitors and peripherals, though the actual IO specs are as-yet undecided. The company is in the process of sourcing components and working towards a final design, so details can — and will — change. I saw some of the parts Lyu has been testing in his office, but no final prototype as such. For one, Rabbit still needs to decide on a chipset. The company is aiming for a performance benchmark relative to the Raspberry Pi 5, which has a Broadcom BCM2712 quad-core Arm Cortex A76 processor clocked at 2.4GHz. With 16GB of RAM, the Raspberry Pi 5 can run two external monitors, a capability Rabbit hopes to match with the Cyberdeck. The idea here is to make a device that's powerful enough it won't feel slow when it's communicating with Anthropic and OpenAI's servers, but affordable enough to make it a no-brainer purchase for developers. The company confirmed Project Cyberdeck will run Linux. Rabbit will allow users to modify the operating system and install any third-party tools they want. Additionally, all the software features the company has developed for RabbitOS will be available through command-line prompts. Two parts of the device Lyu hopes are major differentiating factors are the keyboard and screen. Lyu appears set on shipping a computer with a 40 percent keyboard that has low-profile mechanical switches and a fully hot swappable PCB, so users can tweak the typing feel to their liking. Lyu also had a sample 7-inch OLED screen on his desk when I spoke to him. That specific panel offers touch input, a 165Hz refresh rate and 815 nits of brightness. While it might not be the one Rabbit settles on, OLED is the goal, because of what it would mean for battery life. For the uninitiated, OLED panels produce black values by turning off individual diodes, and since each diode is self-emitting, there's no need for a power-hungry backlight. Like every smartphone manufacturer, Rabbit is taking advantage of this by planning to offer a dark mode interface from day one. One aspect of the Cyberdeck's design Lyu can't definitively speak to is how much RAM it will feature. The entire industry is dealing with datacenter demand for high-bandwidth memory that has sent the price of computers, smartphones and other electronics soaring. Lyu believes Rabbit won't be forced to delay the Cyberdeck out of 2026, but he also didn't rule out the possibility either. If things change for the better, he's confident Rabbit would be able to take advantage, since it took the company about 93 days to ship the first R1 device after it began working on the design. Separately, I wonder if people will want to carry around a second device solely for their coding needs? You don't need a dedicated machine to access Claude Code or OpenAI Cursor. Even companies like Apple have begun integrating vibe coding services into their development environments. Rabbit could be on track for a repeat of the R1, but with so many details of the Cyberdeck left undecided, for now, it's too early to know for sure. The company will get to make its case when it shares more details in the coming weeks and months. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/rabbits-cyberdeck-is-a-modern-take-on-a-netbook-151907273.html?src=rss
