“I bought a Rpi400 early 2021 as something on which to learn new programming languages and ended up using it as a distraction free machine for job hunting. It had seen occasional use since, and I quite liked it. Come Christmas 2025 and I started using it again for distraction free OU degree study. As it proved its worth over those couple of weeks I decided on an upgrade.
Initial worries that the clicky keyboard would get annoying turned out to be unfounded as this one is nice. I'm not normally a fan as mechanical keyboards tend to be noisy and touch typing for me is slower, but it doesn't seem so in this instance. The fact that the keyboard also lights up is a fun bonus! It does feel like a quality keyboard, and the weight of the machine means that it isn't likely to move around when I get a bit heavy handed.
There have been no issues with the speed of the 500+. Menus and apps are responsive, and web pages are quick to load. There has been little to no lag at all with everything I've tried so far. There's a bit of oddness with some third party apps not yet being upgraded to Wayland, but I'm sure they'll catch up sometime soon.
The pairing with the Raspberry Pi monitor is good enough for me to consider replacing my aging Windows 10 laptop with them, especially as I'm no stranger to desktop Linux and I refuse to have Windows 11 on any personal devices. Adapting is not a problem, only finding appropriate software for arm64 devices.
When I get time I might design and 3D print something so that I can combine the 500+ and screen laptop style.”
“Really pleased with this purchase. I love the keyboard feel and have found it to be perfectly useable for a day to day machine.
The P500 is cheaper but when you through in the SSD etc I think it is good value for money”
“Nice keyboard. I like it's silent wrt to standard rpi5 fan. Three cores running flat out compiling gcc, 50c is max temperature reached.
I installed trixie over the shipped bookworm rpiOS without issue.
Plan is to use it as backup to desktop PC. Email, banking etc, lest the PC fail.”
“What a great setup. Already had 8 other pi systems but the A500+ i had to have. Nice bit of premium kit. Absolute solid and the keyboard is an absolute gem with the led keys. Runs real cool under stress, and far cooler than the standard pi 5 in fan cooled box. So that is a plus to start with. Easy setup, but i would like to see Trixe pre-installed instead of Bookworm. Recommend to if someone need a complete system then this should be the first port of call for a system. Changing the internal ssd card is also very easy if required.”
“Good build quality especially the keyboard. SSD storage is a game changer for the PI all in one series but have been available for some time in other builds. Performance is fast and if you don't want to do a lot of processing eg gaming, but do need a lot of storage the PI500+ is ideal.”
“My son was thrilled with his gift and the delivery was super fast. Immaculate packaging. A storage sleeve to fit it would be perfect, otherwise very very happy. Nice quality product.”
