This is the Raspberry Pi Case by Barch Designs. It is created from aerospace grade 6061 aluminum and is CNC-milled (carved from a block), which protects a Raspberry Pi computer system from all sorts of damage (accidental and intended). The aluminum case is designed also to act as a heatsink for the Raspbery Pi thereby removing the need for an external heatsink. The casing looks stylish, as well as rugged.
In case you don’t know about Raspberry Pi, it’s a very small computer design (credit-card sized) that can be used as a core system, and extended for many purposes. It’s incredibly cheap ($25 – $35 with more connectors) and is powered by a Broadcom BCM2835 system on chip (SoC) which features hardware graphics etc.The complete package comes with a neoprene liner to be placed at the bottom of the casing, a small tube of thermal paste, which needs to be applied at three places where the casing touches IC’s on the board and transfers heat from the inside to the external surface. Also included are screws and an Allen wrench to tighten the screws.
All external ports are easily accessible as holes have been milled around the case. The GPIO port can be used by plugging in the cable before closing the casing. The slot for the power cable has been expanded a bit to allow for all designs of power cables. The case has LED’s connected via fiber optic cables with labels engraved in the casing. The case can be wall mounted or desk mounted.
The case comes with a 5 year warranty. Consumers also have the choice of engraving their designs on the outside of the case. Prices vary in the range of $69.95 – $ 74.95, which is more than 2X the cost of the computer itself… All in all, the Raspberry Pi case by Branch designs seems like a good option to keep Raspberry Pi safe. The question however is if you’re willing to buy the case at almost double the price of the Raspberry Pi?
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