Given the recent price increases on Pi 4/5's due to the ongoing 'AI' bandwagon (which wheels will hopefully fall off sooner rather than later) it appears that the best value for money Pi's at the moment are the Pi 400 & 500/+ keyboard computers.
The Pi 400 is currently going for £57.60* which is the same price as a 4GB Pi 4 and the Pi 500 is available for £96.00* compared to £91.20* for the 8GB Pi 5, it seems (to me at least) that the keyboard Pi's currently offer the best value for money you can currently get for a Pi with enough RAM to run as a usable desktop (hang a SSD drive off the back of one of the USB3 ports and they're more than fast enough for day to day computing).
Even the Pi 500+ at £192.00* is pretty good value when you consider the current £139.20* price for a bare 16GB Pi 5 and you get a 256GB SSD built in (and we all know how SSD prices are starting to go up at the moment) for the price and an excellent mechanical keyboard .
For good measure the Pi 400/500/500+ are built into a fanless (and noise free) case with a decent Chiclet style keyboard (you can always plug in a better keyboard if you don't like chiclet keys) and all the ports are neatly lined up along the back to make things a little less cluttered.
With a bit of luck the prices of the keyboard Pi's don't go up (or hopefully not by too much if they have to) due to the RAM price increases but at the moment they're great value for money (don't forget you'd at least need to get a case for the bare Pi 4/5's to keep them safe from damage and dust).
* Prices taken from The Pi Hut today but you can get at similar prices elsewhere.
The Pi 400 is currently going for £57.60* which is the same price as a 4GB Pi 4 and the Pi 500 is available for £96.00* compared to £91.20* for the 8GB Pi 5, it seems (to me at least) that the keyboard Pi's currently offer the best value for money you can currently get for a Pi with enough RAM to run as a usable desktop (hang a SSD drive off the back of one of the USB3 ports and they're more than fast enough for day to day computing).
Even the Pi 500+ at £192.00* is pretty good value when you consider the current £139.20* price for a bare 16GB Pi 5 and you get a 256GB SSD built in (and we all know how SSD prices are starting to go up at the moment) for the price and an excellent mechanical keyboard .
For good measure the Pi 400/500/500+ are built into a fanless (and noise free) case with a decent Chiclet style keyboard (you can always plug in a better keyboard if you don't like chiclet keys) and all the ports are neatly lined up along the back to make things a little less cluttered.
With a bit of luck the prices of the keyboard Pi's don't go up (or hopefully not by too much if they have to) due to the RAM price increases but at the moment they're great value for money (don't forget you'd at least need to get a case for the bare Pi 4/5's to keep them safe from damage and dust).
* Prices taken from The Pi Hut today but you can get at similar prices elsewhere.
Statistics: Posted by mrlinux2u — Thu Dec 11, 2025 12:15 pm — Replies 3 — Views 110