“The Pi500+ feels substantial, and well made. I had thought that I would need a separate micro SD card for installing the operating system, but the Pi booted from the SSD and the installation process went without problem. The keyboard feels very nice and the RGB lights are OK, and the white or red solid backlight will be nice in reduced light working. I haven't attempted to open the case yet to see what form factor the SSD is. I'm looking forward to using the extra memory and storage.”
“This is the first Raspberry Pi that works straight out of the box. It can do that because it is also the first Raspberry Pi to come with a built in disc drive that comes pre-loaded with an operating system. It is so simple to set up that pretty much anyone can do it. Basically you plug it into a monitor, or a TV, with an HDMI input, plug in a mouse (pretty much any one will do), a suitable power supply and finally plug the power supply into the mains. The device will take you through a simple setup procedure. When that's done you restart by pressing the power key at the top right of the keyboard and you are away.
There is a serious criticism at this point. The set up instructions are well hidden on the raspberrypi.com website. Go there and select 'Computers'. You then have to select 'Documentation' and go to the bottom of that page where you find a grey oblong with the caption 'Keyboard computers' and click on it. Unfortunately, this is a technical document with too much detail on too many models. What most users will actually need is the 'Raspberry Pi Beginners Guide 5th edition'. That is supplied as an e-book, in the folder 'Bookshelf' on the device's disc drive. Something of a Catch-22 situation here!
If you are confused, borrow a neighbour's child for a few minutes. Pretty much any 8+ year old will be able to sort the set up out for you. It really is child's play, you just have to know some basic rules.
The Raspberry 500+ is heavier than it looks. It's wedge shaped with all the connectors are along the back edge. The keyboard is mechanical with the keys moving by several millimetres when you hit them. The keys are back lit and the key captions transparent. With the back lighting off the key caps are not easy to read. A great design point is that it is very easy to adjust the colour and intensity of the back-lights using the function key (to the right of the space bar) together with the keys through in the top row. The Raspberian operating system will be very familiar to anyone who has used Windows 10 and in my experience is rock solid.
These are first impressions and I am very well impressed by this computer. If you're not sure about getting all the right bits then buy one of the starter kits that includes mouse, power supply etc. Getting the power supply right is essential, this computer really does need that 27W power supply. I consider this to be a well specified home computer that pretty much anyone can use. It's also adaptable. For example, those key caps can be swapped if the illuminated keyboard doesn't work for you. And it's also extensible through two high speed USB connections.and it has the GPIO pins hidden behind a pop-out cover if you are interested in experimenting with computer controlled devices. If you're wondering about replacing a Win 10 computer, there is a real contender in this Raspberry Pi computer.”
