“I like the colours a lot, but it was a bit fiddly to seat the RPi4 into and cannot access the expansion. If it was not such a faff to keep offering the board to the case I would probably have given it a 4”
“The critics were not exaggerating when they said the pi runs hot in this case.
I have added a small heatsink to my raspberry pi 4.
With the top lid on, the pi idles at 66C and reaches 80C and starts throttling hard after about 3-4 minutes with all cores at 100%.
With the top lid off, the pi idles at 55C and it takes about 15 min. with all cores at 100% before the CPU reaches 80C and it starts to throttle a little bit.
That's 11C degrees fewer at idle and more than 10 minutes more of intensive processing before throttling with the top lid removed!!
Even when throttling the pi will still perform noticeably better with the top lid off because the throttling is a lot less severe.
I strongly suggest at least drilling some ventilation holes in the case to allow the heat to escape if you want to use this case with the top lid on.
The case looks nice and the pi fits really nicely inside it, so I won't give it the worst rating because of that but the thermal issues make it a terrible product.”
“The classical design we love, but it seems not to be the best for the Pi4.
I have the Pi 4 4GB with the PoE HAT and the boards get too warm when the case is closed. The fan of the PoE hat is completely useless given there are no ventilation holes.
I am sure without the HAT it will be a bit cooler, but given the Pi4 seems to strongly recommend active cooling, I would drill a few holes to let air through.”
“I've been a fan of the Official Raspberry Pi product line from the start (I think I have one of everything including the mug) so when I got the new RPi 4 the choice of case was obvious; I even waited for it to come back in to stock. I did consider the PiBow alternative as I have the PiBow case for my Pi3+A which is running a tvHat but, with the PiBow cases being more open I worry about dust accumulating and so I prefer the enclosed cases especially the official Raspberry Pi models. The finishing, detailing and even packaging are almost but not quite Apple-esque (its only a fraction of an Apple price after all).
The Pi fits perfectly in the case and the lid simply clips on. Rubber feet are included and are easily located in the small recesses moulded into the base of the case. So assembly is simple enough.
Diverging from previous official case designs, this case doesn't have the option to remove side panels or to open the sun roof to attach HATs, access camera ports etc. and as others have noted the RPi 4 does run hotter than most so even though I'm not intending to attach a HAT to it, I can see that I might need to remove the lid while its operating.
If I wanted to attach a HAT or found it necessary to add the Fan shim or heatsink then I might be persuaded to choose the a different style case, but at the moment this case suits my purpose. Its nicely designed, good quality and not too expensive - does the job.
Only four stars because of the lack of the opening sides and opening top access panel of its predecessors.”
“The Pi 4 case is fine, apart from overheating. I had to purchase heat sinks and fan for my Pi 4, and will have to modify the case with a big hole! Not recommended.”
