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Review on πŸ“ Vilros Raspberry Pi 4 Kit: 4GB Complete with Cooling Fan Case - Transparent & Efficient by Jason Unruh

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Finally a Pi that doesn't get stuck!

Despite all the advantages, the number Pi had some disadvantages in the development process. You always had to access it from a real computer if you wanted to open multiple Chrome tabs while working on a project. Personally I like having multiple tabs while trying to research how to do this or that and I could never do it on Pi 1-3. The 4g model takes it easy. There is no need to use SSH from the PC or switch HDMI cables when I need a display on the Pi. No more sudden freezes at 100% CPU usage because you open a Word (pi null) document. It has some disadvantages, USB-C doesn't support slave mode so you can't use it as a device on another computer. A bit disappointing as it would be pretty easy to implement. So stick with zero pi if you need it, hopefully it will be updated in the next version. Booting is significantly faster than the Pi 3. Along with USB speed. I'm planning to get a google coral usb drive to try out some tensorflow projects along with opencv. Something that would work on pi3, albeit much slower. As for the rest of the set. The included heatsinks are nice, but they're really only needed for the CPU and memory. The other 2 are for the USB and Ethernet controller. Not something that traditionally requires a heatsink. You also need to be careful when installing these heatsinks as you can easily bypass a resistor or capacitor bank and possibly damage the board. I saved these 2 for something else. A fan is useful and necessary for heavy workloads. In general the pi4 is much faster if you keep it below 80C which you will eventually get with just a heatsink. The fan is noisy at 5v so I set mine to "silent mode" with the red wire connected to 3.3v and the black wire connected to ground. Still hot, low to mid 70s, but no throttling. The fan cables are on the short side. The cables exit on the HDMI/USB-C side and should run around the fan, through the DSI connector (above the SD card slot) and around the GPIO. The length is sufficient, but nothing more. At the time of writing, a firmware update has been released to further reduce temperatures by 3-5Β°C, but this also seems to slow down USB read/write speeds. I haven't tried it and don't intend to mess with it. The case is of good quality, it is clear that a little money was spent on the manufacture of plastic. Tolerances are tight and the Pi fits snugly to the lid and gives a nice click. It's thick enough not to open if you drop it off the table. One problem is that when using a body camera mount, the ribbon cable will push against the fan unless you apply an improper bend to the cable, which can easily damage it. This worked for me, but could easily break the cable. The power supply is perfect for powering the Pi for any workload with a decent amount of peripherals. When I get my Coral USB stick I may need a powered USB stick to place with the @500mA webcam, but maybe not. The SD card is just great. And a real Samsung SD. It was hard to tell what the little black box in the picture was (to the left of the Pi in the main image). I assumed it was a USB SD card reader. I've never seen a design like this before. Basically it's just a male USB part with a small hole for an SD card. Very minimalist and economical design, but sufficient. I paid $100 for a 4GB kit and have no regrets. Some minor flaws but overall a big improvement over the pi3. Otherwise, the set offers good value for money. You don't get a flimsy case or a cheap power supply.

Pros
  • Brings joy
Cons
  • Some disadvantages