“I have all the Pi models from day one. This is the best. Runs very cool even when overclocked. We just need full 64bit O/S Raspberry OS and real accelerated graphics. Flaky on full screen videos. Its a great purchase however.”
“At less than £100 the Raspberry Pi400 provides a meaningful solution for the notorious 'three body problem' that confronts computer buyers - to balance the conflicting requirements of functionality, performance and price. The Pi400 is quite astonishing and it is fantastic value.
The basic keyboard unit at £67 has no mouse, SD card or micro-HDMI to HDMI for a monitor but for just a bit extra at £93 you can get all that in one bundle plus a handy user guide (with the Raspberry Pi OS pre-installed to the SD card). On reflection that might have been a better deal because I had no spare SD card or HDMI lead but these are cheap enough to buy separately. The pre-installed software included with the Raspberry Pi OS is more than enough to provide anyone with an accessible computer environment and because it is free and/or open source it is readily maintained.
The Pi400 surely hits the mark for the everyday user. It is a compact PC and with the included software it provides more than sufficient performance for writing, emailing, web browsing or common data management tasks. This small but punchy device will meet all your needs. But also for me, a lifetime Windows user who is always interested to explore further 'under the hood', this is a great way to dive into the Linux OS with minimal hassle. Novice or advanced programmers too will be satisfied by the inclusion of Python and Scratch while tinkerers will enjoy the GPIO interface allowing the Pi400 to interact with the physical world using many widely available, and cheap, connectables.
Thus, for a relatively small outlay you can have a high end PC sitting modestly on your desk and, if you don’t already have one, a reasonable monitor can be bought for as little as £80 (or, if your TV has an HDMI port, use that instead unless you have to argue with your housemates for TV time!). The Pi400 could readily support most home working needs, or it could be a tool of choice for students following a computer science curriculum, and a small start-up business might comfortably fulfil its basic IT requirements (along with a reputable cloud storage provider) without consuming significant capital resources.
What's not to like?”
“I was well impressed with this unit, as it really does mean I can have a multi OS, neat and powerful PC on my desktop. I downloaded the Ubuntu Gorilla and the Raspbian. I swap them over and do different things with them. I have an order in for the I/O connector to breadboard and may well do some PI development stuff.
However, the fact that it is such a neat and powerful, easily reboot-able, to 'whatever you want' , makes this a first class device for learners and professionals alike. To have a super, low cost desktop for browsing and experimental computing development base. My only minor criticism is the lack of an audio jack for simple external amplified speakers.
I intend to use it for audio recording, Neflixing (fantastic streaming) , browsing and would highly recommend it as a Christmas gift for a young relative to learn computing without limits.”
