GeeekPiBanana Pi BPI-M5 Amlogic S905X3 Single Board Computer with Banana Pi m5 Case,Power Supply,Cooling Fan and Heatsinks for AIOT Support Android Debian Raspbian Armbian

Let me begin by saying I searched for a couple weeks for a PI clone that would suit my needs. For me this kit had what I wanted for the price point I was looking for. Things I found out along the way, you want a case, you will need a proper power supply, ethernet good enough for starting out, Good SD card to get you started. To my dismay the instructions do not tell you how to apply the heatsinks or put the case together and this is where your tinker hat is needed becuase you are on your own. I ended up flashing my SD card with Ubuntu Linux after trying a few images that failed to boot from the Banana Pi website. After I booted up the OS there was bad screen jitter on my monitor which I could not figure out, so had to pivot and applied X2Go Client/Server so I could remote login from my PC. Flashing the onboard memory for use instead of the SD card is also a challenge if you want to do that. Things are working the way I want so I am happy. I gave this 4 stars because by the time you get a case and a power supply plus any other accesories you want you end up over $100 and close to the $150 range anyway. I seriously considered the Orange PI 800 all in one keyboard but that $20 handling fee which does not show up till you put it in the cart bothered me, then you still had to pay for shipping. If you plan on getting one, do your homework and keep an open mind so you can pivot if you hit a snag. Short of the board being bad out of the box you may not get help or the answers you need from the MFGR so be prepared to do your homework with a healthy dose of trial and error. This is NOT a toy by the way for kids. A tech savy teen may enjoy this.