“I bought this as a present for my son and we set about putting it together and installing/updating all the bits and bobs to get it working and left it to do its download. My son then comes to me and said “mum, is it supposed to get so hot that the metal parts burn me?” Errrr I shouldn’t think so?!? We had to put it on a placemat as I was worried it would scorch the desk and with no idea if it was supposed to be that hot, we just left it and kept checking it every 2 minutes to make sure it wasn’t smoking! It cooled down after the initial download-but really?! That hot?!?”
“Over all a good kit, but the case is the worst I ever had. Does not close correctly and cover falls down as it does not snap in at the base. Too bad.”
“This Pi does what is has to do: being a comfortable, easy to install, superb media center for a reasonable price. No need for extra's like the new Pi4. Hope this version stays in production!”
“Let me start by saying that this is a good little starter kit, you get the Pi 4B (mine was the 4GB model), an official case, SD Card preloaded with NOOBS, Power Adapter, and an Mini HDMI Lead. I also got the mouse and keyboard seperatly as well as a heat sync (which is a highly recommended option if you're going to use this as a desktop system). All you need to do is assemble the Pi in the case, plug it all in, install Rasbian (which NOOBS does for you) , and you're good to go! No messing or fussing.
I've noticed that the Raspberry Pi Foundation are puishing the Pi 4B as an entry desktop PC, ideal for light web browsing and office work. The Pi 4B does this and it does it well, I've also started to learn how to code on it with Python and Sonic Pi. For it's size and power, I am surprised what I've managed to do with it so far.
However, this comes at a cost; the SoC gets hot, very hot when performing these tasks. It even gets hot idleing at the desktop! Now I can get why, this is running a full blown OS and I imagine if I were to run something lightweight, the temperatures would be lower.
Now the obvious thing to do would be getting a heatsink which I did, and this did help a lot with the thermal issues I've faced. Instead of thermal pads, I used thermal paste as that's what I've always used for effective cooling for computer systems. Now, I'm not opposed to having to add cooling methods on this system, all the entry level PCs I've seen and used have them, so this one should to. My main compaint is the poor case design as it has no forms of ventilation, thrus leaving me no choice but to leave the case open and exposing it to dust. I did end up drilling holes in the case but I did do a botch job on it so I can't say fully if that fixed the issue. I have since moved to a different case and heatsink design which I felt happy with.
If someone were to ask me if they wanted this kit, I would reccomend it just because of the cables and pre loaded SD card, along with a heatsink. I would suggest either dilling out holes on the case top or go for another one all together.
Why am I rating this 4 stars? The case top lets it down. Otherwise, I am happy with my purchase.”
