“The starter kit is what it says it is. If you are giving as a present (for example to a beginner) spend more money first on a primer guide.
The official housing is a joke for a Pi4, you soon discover that it runs hot. Very hot, with an ambient temperature of more than 28 it is unusable. CPU temp quickly rises to >83. Throttles back and then stops. The cut outs for hdmi connector inhibit and positive full entry, resulting in intermittent monitor problems. Spending another £10 or so on heatsinks, fan, and a more versatile case make a world of difference and CPU temp comes down by 35. (all in deg C!) Then let the learning begin. Non Linux literates expect a steep learning curve with steps along the way.”
“Everything great except the case. The case looks good and fits well but sadly the PI 4 needs serious cooling. Even with no tasks running the CPU temperature gets up to 60C and if you run anything it goes into the 80s which is the road to failure. I have purchased a metal case, heatsinks and fan for just twice the price of the case.”
“Complete novice and wanted to learn a some coding so purchased the starter kit. Comes with SD card that is supposed to have the installation software preloaded... nothing, just a rainbow coloured screen. Great, if you’re in to rainbows!”
“Would recommend getting a case off eBay that has a mini fan so that the CPU doesn't throttle. With this white/red case idle temperature is about 76 degrees C (and it throttles at 80). With a mini fan it's 46 degrees C - huge difference. Otherwise I would recommend the 4GB RAM set.”
“Received The wrong power supply, my fault. Wish you could of warned me the plug was Type C not suited for the US.
Did not receive the NOOBS microSD card.
Bottom line when I received the items it was not plug and play.”
“Definitely a performance improvement over the 3B+, however once it exceeds 80 degrees it will throttle performance until it cools down.
The trouble is it doesn't take much to get to 80 degrees without a third party cooling system.
Keep in mind that a case equipped with fan plus heatsinks is borderline mandatory on the pi 4 for any practical uses. If you can afford the extra overhead, then it'll make for a great upgrade.”
