Raspberry Pi 500

My new Living Room desktop

I'm new to Raspberry Pi, but certainly not new to computers; I've been using them since the Apple //e, even built a few Windows machines. My Living Room computer (which sits on the coffee table) is/was a Windows laptop. But I'm also a Linux user and Ham Radio operator, and I wanted a Raspberry Pi for the Ham Shack. My first RPi was the 400 with its small, keyboard-sized form factor. A great choice for tunning Ham Radio apps, but a bit slower than I wanted for word processing and writing e-mail. Maybe the newer RPi 500, 2with a faster processor and double the RAM, could work in the Living Room? Short answer: YES! It's much faster, just as easy to use, and works well with an inexpensive portable monitor. I added a Bluetooth speaker to get audio near my sitting position, and now it's my main machine for non-Ham use. I'm writing this on my Windows laptop, prior to looking for another use for it; I like the RPi 500 more. (But now I want the even nicer Raspberry Pi 500+!)

I have the Pi400, so the Pi500 is a significant improvement. It is fast and more capable with its 8 GB of RAM. I highly recommend it.

A true desktop PC that can handle everyday computing tasks and stream YouTube video no problem

I own a P400 and am pleased with it - till I got the P500. It is so much faster, and it can handle all the tasks I put it through. With the $90 dollar price point, I can understand why there is no M.2 option, but it would have been really cool to have the Pi 5 performance and the M.2 NVMe option.