👍 Recommendation This is very much a buy recommendation. If you can afford it, go for the 4Gb or 8Gb version. Also don’t cheap out on the SD Card; buy a quality memory card such as Sandisk. 👍 Recommendation Raspberry Pi 4b 2Gb Review Features USB 3 Fast networking WiFi & Bluetooth Display ports Silent, energy-efficient GPIO Header DSI & CSI Ports Audio Pros Cons Review Score Raspberry Pi 4b 2Gb Review The Raspberry Pi 4 is the flagship board from Raspberry Pi and the latest incarnation of the small credit card sized single board computer. It features a Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz Features USB 3 The Raspberry Pi 4 has 4 USB A ports - two USB v2 and two USB v3 ports. These provide connectivity to a keyboard and mouse (and I’d recommend the official Keyboard and mouse from Raspberry Pi too). Your new Raspberry Pi 4 has upgraded USB capacity: along with two USB 2 ports you’ll find two USB 3 ports, which can transfer data up to ten times faster. Fast networking Raspberry Pi 4 comes with Gigabit Ethernet, along with onboard wireless networking and Bluetooth. 1Gb Ethernet is provided by the RJ45 connector next to the USB ports. This is plenty fast enough for everything the Pi is capable of. I recommend using the wired connection where possible, as its the most reliable and fastest way to connect your Pi to a network. WiFi & Bluetooth 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE Gigabit Ethernet Display ports 2 Micro-HDMI Display ports Supports 2x 4K displays Silent, energy-efficient The fanless, energy-efficient Raspberry Pi runs silently and uses far less power than other computers. GPIO Header Raspberry Pi standard 40 pin GPIO header (fully backwards compatible with previous boards) DSI & CSI Ports 2-lane MIPI DSI display port 2-lane MIPI CSI camera port Audio 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port Pros The best single board computer available Documentation Accessories & Plugins available Software support Maturity of hardware, software and education materials Amazing organisation - Produces MagPi Magazine, HackSpace Magazine, Wireframe Magazine and more Cons Availability Price (due to price scalping) Runs hot - may require cooling depending on workload Micro HDMI Connectors are a bit fiddly; I’ve broken a cable of on one Review Score Below is the Kevs Robots review framework. First, each product is scored out of 5 for each of the 9 areas. The total score is then calculated by adding the scores for each area and dividing by 9. The total score is then rounded to the nearest whole number. Scoring area 1 2 3 4 5 Price Very Expensive, verging on not worth it Expensive, but worth it for the value add Affordable, similar in price to competitors Cheap / great value for the parts and features Free / Very low cost Ease of use Hard to use, complex operations requiring multipe steps Many steps, some of which as complex. Some steps to construct or operate, some of which are complex Few steps, simple to do Very easy to use / use is obvious and clear Functionality Very little innovation or usefulness Does less then you’d expect, but still useful Practice, does what you expect but no more Quite a few innovative functions, does more than you’d expect Amazing features & innovation, industry leading Availability Very difficult to get hold of any variation or version Little available; some variations or versions are available Available in some countries and stocks mostly available Available in most countries & mostly in stock, short wait for stock replenishment All versions and variations widely available in all countries & in stock Aesthetics Design is not pleasing to the eye; poor colour choice, parts do not fit together, no cohesive design Design is acceptable, some elements do not work together well Design is functional, no overall cohesion Design is functional with some flair, most elements work together well Very pleasing to the eye, complimentary colour choices, great fit and finish, with an overall cohesive design Build Quality Poor construction, with gaps or overlapping parts. Poor quality materials used Functional construction, cheap materials Functional construction, acceptable materials used Durable design, some parts are high quality, most are acceptable Solid construction, parts fit together as intended with no unexpected gaps or overlapping parts. High quality materials and parts used Documentation Single language instructions, no diagrams, basic features only Basic instructions, technical specifications in a few languages, little no diagrams, no example code Basic instructions, technical specifications in a few languages, diagrams for use. Some example code Documentation available in multiple languages, with all features covered and diagrams for use. Some example code Documentation available in multiple languages, with all features covered and simple diagrams for use. Mechanical and circuit diagrams also included. Example code. Advanced topics covered too Packaging Little to no thought given to environment. Wasteful use of space leading to higher shipping costs. Excess layers of packaging Some thought given to environmental packaging & recycling. A few layers of packaging Some thought given to environmental packaging materials & recycling. Single layer of packaging Environmentally friendly, packaging designed for recycling with some effort. Packaging is has mostly efficient use of space to cut down on shipping costs Environmentally friendly, packaging designed for easy recycling. Packaging is small with efficient use of space to cut down on shipping costs Environmental No consideration given to sourcing, production, supply, delivery or disposal of product, with toxic chemicals used in production No consideration given to sourcing, production, supply, delivery or disposal of product Product is efficient to operate, but may have poor environmental production or disposal impacts Most of the product is sourced from recycled materials, no toxic chemicals used in production, some thought given to production and delivery energy used Product is sourced from 100% recycled materials, with no toxic chemicals used in production. produced with clean energy, packaging designed to lower delivery costs and disposal of product is taken care of total is 4.3