Views on the raspberry pi

What are your guys views, on the raspberry pi? Tons of kids in my school are like "OMG IT'S LIKE A COMPOOTER YOU CAN PROGRAM YOURSELF LOOK I MADE IT SAY HELLO WORLD IN PYTHON" now don't get me wrong, everyone needs to start somewhere, it's just why with this, what's wrong with just installing linux on your laptop, it's just a slow linux computer. As far as I can tell it's only use is teaching intermediate programmers lower level stuff when they start using the GPIO pins and such.

Treacherous, nonfree jewry.

>>8
As for possible applications for the Pi, here is a list:
Flawless binary blob playback
Hardware decoding for all the binary blob formats
5.1 Surround sound with DTS or Dolby Digital using binary blob pass-through
Binary blob support (play straight from your iPhone/iPad to the TV)
Stream binary blobs straight from the Internet
A full binary blob diagnostic computer with a USB OBD2 adapter
Binary blob in the car with a USB DVB-T adapter
Have binary blob in the car with a USB 3G Dongle
A binary blob with a 32GB SDHC card and XBMC
Add a binary blob and turn on and off anything from IP.
Add a USB webcam and Broadcom can monitor you from afar.
Add binary blob sensors and build your own RMS