TUTORIALS Pi daily driver
Use a Raspberry Pi as your daily driver
RASPBERRY PI
Christian Cawley eschews his usual laptop to discover whether the Raspberry Pi 4 can really act as a desktop replacement.
OUR EXPERT
Christian Cawley is a technology writer and Doctor Who fan. Sigh.
Much has been written about using a Raspberry Pi as a desktop replacement. When the Raspberry Pi launched in 2012, this seemed unfeasible. With the arrival of the 8GB Raspberry Pi 4, it is eminently possible.
Take the basic specification of a low-cost desktop PC from a well-known retail park supplier. The Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 is under £300 and features a dual-core 2.3GHz Athlon Silver CPU, 4GB GDDR4 RAM, and a 1TB drive.
Storage aside, there isn’t anything to set that computer apart from a quad-core 1.5GHz Raspberry Pi 4. In many ways this is comparing apples and oranges, but it seems like that the Pi is ready for “the big time.” Of course, there’s only one way to find out, which is why we’ve spent a working week using the Raspberry Pi as our main computer.
To clarify, every word of this feature has been written on the Raspberry Pi 4 8GB model seen in the accompanying photos.
QUICK TIP
The Pi 4 works as a daily driver. But if there’s something you can’t do with it, go and use your wheezing desktop and come back to the low-budget, environmentally friendly Pi.
Which Pi filling?
We’ve tried giving the Raspberry Pi a run as a potential desktop replacement since picking up the original Model B. All models since have spent time on our desk trying to substitute a desktop, attempting to run as a daily driver.
Only the Pi 3B+ and Pi 4 4GB have come close. Both have shortcomings, which is why the Pi 4 8GB raises the prospect of a Raspberry Pi solution that can make office productivity affordable for everyone. The Pi 400 is a potential option too, and with a similar spec to the 4GB model of the Raspberry Pi 4, it’s a smart alternative if you don’t have a suitable keyboard.