Review on 🍓 High-performance Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Desktop with Quad Core CPU, 1GB RAM and Linux OS by Ken Ventura

***Update*** I said I would do it and I did. ;-) I have 2 more Pis since I wrote this review. I now have one on every TV. I use them all. They all work great and make cutting your cable TV cord bearable. :-) ********************************************** ** ***** ******** ************************************ * Dude, I LOVE this case! love love love! I was looking for a media player capable of both streaming from the internet and playing videos (avi, mkv, mp4) from a flash drive. This bargain priced little computer is for you. He's small too. Tiny. In this case, it's about the size of a deck of cards. It connects to your TV via an HDMI cable. I looked at popular streaming media players and while many of them were good for streaming, they weren't good for playing local files or vice versa. Roku looked interesting, but do you have to give them your credit card number to use them? Thanks but no. Some other players were good at both, but some of them came at a ridiculous price. $400 for a media player that does the same thing as a $40 Raspberry Pi. I don't think so. Setting up the Pi requires a bit of work. No operating system is provided, you need to add your own. You install your favorite operating system onto a micro SD card (class 10 is best - I use 16GB PNY) and the device boots and uses it. I use an operating system called KODI (formerly called XBMC). It is an open-source operating system based on Linux, intended to be used as a media center and nothing else. It's light and fast. You can also install Raspbian which is based on Debian and is a 'more complete' operating system. It depends on what you are doing with this device. For my needs, KODI is more than enough. It also loads in less than 10 seconds and has been relatively stable so far. You need to buy a case as you only get one circuit board. It doesn't have Wi-Fi, so you'll need to buy a Wi-Fi dongle if you don't use Ethernet. I bought one from the Edimax Nano and it works great although I now have it connected with an ethernet cable. Ethernet is best for streaming, although to be honest I haven't had any buffering issues either. You may need a remote control. The Pi has an IR sensor and is HDMI-CEC compliant. So if you have a modern flat screen TV that is also HDMI-CEC compliant, you can probably use the TV remote with the Pi. I didn't know about this when I bought it, so I also bought a FLIRC USB receiver that allows you to use other remotes and program them to your liking for use with the Pi. The advantage of KODI is that it is easy to use and there are thousands of add-ons available to stream from sites around the world. Some of them are geo-blocked so you can't stream them in the US, but many others aren't. There are literally thousands to choose from. You can see tons of things you never thought possible and now I'm just talking LEGAL things you can't get from your cable or satellite provider. That's why people cut the cable on cable TV. This device makes it easy to watch quality, legal and commercial free programs for free. I plan on cutting the cable myself soon and I'm so happy with the Pi that I plan to buy a few more to hook up to other TVs in my house. Just waiting for my husband to find free time to run cat6 for me. Given the price and functionality of this device, you can't go wrong. If you can install the operating system and fit the board into the case (easy), then you're good to go. For the pleasure I get from the Pi, being able to watch what I like, no ads, legal, this thing is worth its weight in gold. My WDTV Live, which has always been PITA and very strict, is being replaced by another Raspberry Pi by my mother. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with that. I love it.