Element14 Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Motherboard

For $35 dollars, this little computer is incredible. My model did not come with an operating system out of the box (and they typically don't, unless you purchase a kit with an OS pre-installed on a MicroSD card), but installation of NOOBS and then Raspbian went very well. Make sure to format your MicroSD card BEFORE putting any installation files on it!The Raspberry Pi 3 b+ comes with four USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, audio out port, a RPi camera port, a MicroUSB port for power purposes (you power the Pi with a 2.5A or 3A 5v power supply and a microUSB cord, like what you'd use to charge an Android phone), and a GPIO pin board for all sorts of things. Each of these ports is quite rigid, especially the audio port, which I really got scared for when I was plugging in headphones for the first time to test my audio capability, but so far, the board has held up very well and all plugins have stayed in and remained stable throughout all operation and any maneuvering I had to make with the board. The GPIO pins are very sturdy and seem well built. The Wifi and Bluetooth that comes natively with the Raspberry Pi 3b+ works very well and seems reliable.My model is the 1 GB RAM version, and so far, the single GB of RAM has done a great job of juggling different programs, and I've had no major issues with bottlenecking while running programs like Chromium (Raspbian's native lightweight Chrome-based web browser), a few terminals, htop ( a resource monitoring utility that sits in a terminal window), and a Python IDE for programming purposes.As a test, the first night I received this product, I fired up some updates while running two Youtube videos (at 360p, which is what Chromium's codec allows for on the Raspberry Pi 3 b+, alongside htop, a python IDE, and a couple of terminal windows, and fired up a temperature monitor I programmed to check for temps. The Pi was sitting around 50 degrees Celsius in a room that was about 25 degrees Celsius, which I thought was pretty good considering I had no heatsinks or fans installed on it, and it was just sitting on my desk. So, it can handle stuff pretty well without turning into an oven so far.At this point, I definitely highly recommend this product. I can think of no device that can be purchased for this amount of money that has the sheer amount of utility, potential, and geek-factor. Nothing even comes close. The Raspberry Pi and variations of it have infinite usability, and they are the PERFECT gift for an aspiring programmer, kid tinkerer, novice engineer, or for anyone wanting to take a dive into the world of Linux-based operating systems and programming. The Raspberry Pi can do it all, and I'm incredibly impressed.

This is such a nice little SBC with so much support online to get you going. Has onboard WiFi and Bluetooth as well as an internet jack to hardwire if you want. Also has 4 USB ports (USB 2 speed). Makes a great retro gaming machine. Download RetroPie with Emulation station and load your games up. Use the 40 pin I/O header and build and control that robot you always wanted to.There are faster (and more expensive) SBC's like the Asus Tinkerboard and the Odroid XU4 but their level of online support can't match the latest Raspberry Pie 3b+. This a great way to get into computing and programming and is a great choice for someone on a budget. You will also need a power supply and a case and an HDMI cable, a keyboard and a mouse (USB) which you probably already have those last two. Oh, also a class 10 micro sd card (Samsung Evo is a good choice). I recommend at least a 16 gig card but it can take up to 128 gig card. I am getting along fine with a 32 gig Evo. I also recommend a couple of heat sinks which just stick on.Samsung 32GB 95MB/s (U1) MicroSD EVO Select Memory Card with Adapter (MB-ME32GA/AM)LoveRPi Performance Heatsink Set for Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (2 Heatsinks)And this power supply/NorthPada Raspberry Pi 3 Model B B+ Plus Power Supply Charger AC Adapter 5V 3A PSU Micro USB 5 Feet with Power On/Off Switch (1 X Power Supply)You can buy a CanaKit with most of similar components but these I have recommended are better and a little more expensive. But worth it.If you can afford it I highly recommend this case to install it in.The perseids NES Case, NES & VCR Retro Synth Mini Computer Case with Cooling Fan for Raspberry Pi 3, 2 and B

**UPDATE: 07/12/2019 Ok so the ARM version will be reflected based on the Operating System you’re running. For example: if you’re running Raspbian, it will show v7, but if you install something different that was meant for v8 (aarch64) like Ubuntu Mate (aarch64), it will show v8. To find out the version, open a terminal and type this: cat /proc/cpuinfoThen hit enter. It will spell out the CPU for you or give the CPU architecture number 7 or 8. With 8, you can run 64-bit. Cheers!**UPDATE: 10/1/2018 Works great but it comes with ARMv7 not 8. Beware - false advertising**———————————————————Firstly, make sure you have a micro as card with the OS of your choice installed. I have one sd card with the NOOBS installer for the Raspbian OS (Raspberry’s de facto operating system). All I had to do was download NOOBS files, format the sd card to FAT32, and copy the NOOBS files onto the card, and plug it into Raspberry Pi motherboard. When I turned it on, the motherboard picked up on the system files and walks you through the install, and there’s various OS’s you can pick from. I also have another sd with RetroPie (video game emulation OS). RetroPie needs to be imaged onto the sd card before being plugged into the Raspberry Pi. I bought a housing unit with a fan for this thing that also comes with heat sinks (a must-buy if you ask me). If you are new to Unix-like OS’s, learn a few Terminal commands to learn how to do just a few things on here like running things as an administrator, navigating files, creating folders, etc. This product is a great buy. If anyone has any questions about this, feel free to comment.