Personally, I found the mini HDMI ports themselves a downgrade. One is forever looking for adapters. However, having two displays is nice!
It boils down to whether someone is using the device like a computer.
The Pi 400 is a nice, respectable computer and I use one for development. Two displays makes sense and is high value.
Now you can absolutely use the device.
I have an epaper project in development. I have the epaper setup and attached to a Pi 3. That makes sense and it works well. Code output goes there and I have it all in one place.
I use it in two basic ways:
One is headless, using VNC to access dev tools and code located right on the Pi. I keep various wi-fi setups handy and can copy a new one onto the SD card if needed. Usually, I am powering the Pi with my laptop in that scenario.
The other is via plugged in displays with keyboard and mouse.
I do both of those with Pi 3 and 4 devices.
The Pi-400 needs the display adapter and though I have not lost or broken one yet, it seems to me simply attaching an adapter permanently to the computer would make a lot of sense.
This thread makes me want to 3d print a different case so that I can incorporate the adapters properly and just expose HDMI slots like we see on the earlier devices.
Finally, just a tip:
I will often use my laptop as a display for the Pi with one of those HDMI capture devices. Power the Pi with the laptop and bring up a display to work with.
For a lot of reasons, my primary laptop runs Windows 10. It has a lot going on. Sometimes a setup on the pi is easy. When that is true, I just leave things on the Pi.
I agree if they are running it strictly for Linux needs however they may be using it for gpio and not be aware there are gpio USB boards out there that basically do the same thing.
Personally, I found the mini HDMI ports themselves a downgrade. One is forever looking for adapters. However, having two displays is nice!
It boils down to whether someone is using the device like a computer.
The Pi 400 is a nice, respectable computer and I use one for development. Two displays makes sense and is high value.
Now you can absolutely use the device.
I have an epaper project in development. I have the epaper setup and attached to a Pi 3. That makes sense and it works well. Code output goes there and I have it all in one place.
I use it in two basic ways:
One is headless, using VNC to access dev tools and code located right on the Pi. I keep various wi-fi setups handy and can copy a new one onto the SD card if needed. Usually, I am powering the Pi with my laptop in that scenario.
The other is via plugged in displays with keyboard and mouse.
I do both of those with Pi 3 and 4 devices.
The Pi-400 needs the display adapter and though I have not lost or broken one yet, it seems to me simply attaching an adapter permanently to the computer would make a lot of sense.
This thread makes me want to 3d print a different case so that I can incorporate the adapters properly and just expose HDMI slots like we see on the earlier devices.
Finally, just a tip:
I will often use my laptop as a display for the Pi with one of those HDMI capture devices. Power the Pi with the laptop and bring up a display to work with.