Running Photoshop on a 60p chip
You can now run a working copy of Photoshop on a computer chip that costs sixty pence.
A developer emulated a vintage Macintosh on a Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller, which sells for around 60p. With two 150MHz processors and a few extra cheap parts for memory, the tiny board loaded classic Adobe Photoshop and WordPerfect 1.0. Back in 1989, the equivalent Mac SE sold for £3,495—roughly £9,554 today after inflation.
Why it matters: Here's the gist: chips cheaper than a cup of coffee now pack more power than the flagship desktop computers of thirty years ago. Beyond retro hardware hacking, it shows how "permacomputing" could deliver quiet, solar-powered, distraction-free tools that don't end up in a landfill.
Know this: It won't edit high-res photos. The demo runs on a tiny monochrome display, but it easily handles simple drawing and typing without endless notifications or complex web trackers.
Your next distraction-free writing rig might cost less than a bakery snack.
Sources
- Point in the Cloud — https://pointinthecloud.com/2026-08-19-144600.html
- Hacker News — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49389441

