[GTALUG] Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit

[mwilson at Vex.Net]

> Hello,
>
> I stumbled across this recently:
> https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
>
> I can use some guidance and advice from folks who have experience
> with Raspberry Pi's. What I read so far looks good but I have questions.
>
> If 'you' were to use a Raspberry Pi as a desktop replacement which one
> would you recommend?
>
> Is there a major difference in response times between the 4Gb and 8Gb
> models ?
>
> How hot does the unit become ? Does it require an add on fan shim ? Or
> will work fine without one ?

I started with a 4GByte kit from ABRA in Montreal.  It did adequately
replacing my old 1-core I386 desktop, mostly running Firefox and Gnu Image
Manipulation Program.  GIMP seemed to encounter strange crashes with many
images open, so I lately upgraded to an 8GByte kit from CanaKit in BC, as
soon as they announced the 8GB.  It is also working well, with occasional
GIMP crashes.  I don't have anything like benchmark results to tell you.

Both kits came with a fan.  The ABRA case+fan had an annoying resonant
buzz that built up, until I replaced the steel bolts that held the fan
with nylon.  The CanaKit fan is a press fit onto studs molded into the
case, so it was noisy from the get-go, with no chance for modification.  I
left the fan off.  The 8GB board is running fine with the supplied
aluminum heat sinks venting straight up through the opening in the case, 
Air coming out of the case is barely warmer than ambient, so under my
workload, the fan seems totally optional.
Besides my big 2 apps, the usual Linux/GNU stuff just works: networking,
rsync, ssh, apt-get, etc.
I went with packaged kits, just to save my own time, and to be able to get
to work as soon as the parcel arrived.  I don't think I'd change.
I sprang for a 128GB SD card, the medium size Raspbian image takes up 5%
space, 2% inodes.
>
> How easy or difficult would it be to boot off an external hard disk as
> compared
> to the SD card that comes with the Pi ?
>
> Any other things to watch out for and be aware of before I purchase ?
> Instead of buying
> the kit would it be cheaper to buy each item separately from different
> vendors ?
>
> Thanks - Aruna
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