Nowadays, the beautiful and STEM learning gadgets like computers, smartphones, and DIY kits give a good understanding of the electronics working and also provide room for tinkering to the kids and beginners in the field. The Piper computer kit is a great package to build a real, general use computer and electronics programs. Today, I will review the Piper Raspberry Pi computer kit and compare it with another top-rated self-building PC kit to give you a clear idea.
Piper Computer Kit Review
The Piper computer helps to make the learning easier and fun doing of computing and programs. It makes your kids build a computer from scratch and Minecraft computer game learning which is a popular way of learning.
Specifications of Piper Computer Kit
- Piper kit comes with the amazing tiny little circuit board Raspberry Pi with 1.2GHz processor and 1GB RAM
- It comes with a 7-inch LCD display with 800×480 screen resolution
- It has a built-in WiFi
- The kit came in a protective wooden box with 3.5×6.5×11 inches dimensions and made with a 5mm thick pine wood
- A 3.5mm audio jack helps you listen to the sounds
- The USB charging facility makes the kit flexible to use at different places; you just need to have a USB device for powering it
- It has a high-capacity battery which lets you tinker with it without worrying about the power for a long time
- The kit comes with HDMI, AV jacks and an SD card with pre-installed game levels in PiperUniverse
Design of Piper Kit
To provide the understanding of the world of tinkering with electrical circuit and programs to kids, the Piper kit comes in a safe and controlled environment.
When the box arrived, it looked like a storage box in the first impression, but when I opened it, I found a nicely managed package of different pieces of the kit. The above part of the box is made of plastic, and all the other are made of brass and pine bolts, screws, latches, and hinges. In the inner top of the box, the 7” LCD is housed. On the left side of it, I can see the PiperCraft’s two lead characters; Pip and PiperBot.
All the buttons, switches, jumper wires, mouse, breadboard, LED lights, etc. are stored in the bottom portion. Though the box is neat and clean from outside as well as inside, a bit wider size may fit all the component pretty comfortably. On the front, there is a main breadboard with the Raspberry Pi on the right of it. At the farthest right, there is a battery pack. You can easily remove the Raspberry Pi, the breadboard, and storage box placed at the bottom of the case can be removed easily if you need more space in your Piper PC.
The overall design of the Piper computer kit is good and nicely managed. My only concern about the design is that the exposed screw threads can be managed more precisely such that they do not scratch the wood surfaces.
Features of Piper Raspberry Pi Computer Kit
- It is STEM learning computer kit which comes in a hand-made wooden case
- The inclusion of Raspberry Pi gives room to play with Minecraft computer kit and its challenges
- Inbuilt WiFi enables you to enjoy and share different gameplay levels
- It is perfect for kids having age between eight to thirteen
- There are fifty plus puzzle pieces which enhance the crafting skills of your kids
- The Raspberry Pi edition in the Minecraft laptop kit teaches the coding of different applications in physical building, engaging storyline, etc.
- Not only learning, but the Piper kit actually make you create complex circuits and code programming modules to make an interaction between the Raspberry Pi and Minecraft PC kit
- It helps to develop and enhance your kid’s different abilities like critical thinking, crafting, coding, electrical circuit designs, problem-solving techniques, and much more
What’s good about the Piper kit
- The Minecraft computer kit easily attaches kids with the projects
- You do not have to buy anything else than this kit to build a DIY general use computer with Raspberry Pi
- After assembling and building the kit, you can use it as a cheap computer which can work all the tasks of a PC
- It will help to enhance different skills of the kids having age group between 8-13
- You can upgrade this Raspberry Pi kit as per your requirement and needs
What can be improved for a better teaching through the kit?
- If you use the screen, then the battery will drain quickly, and you will need a USB charging. So, the battery capacity can be upgraded to allow using it wirelessly for more time
- The instructions that come as printed with the kit can sometimes create confusions
Piper Vs Kano Computer Kit
Let’s compare the Piper PC kit with another popular STEM learning package, the Kano computer kit which comes with Raspberry Pi.
Piper and Kano kits both are similar, but the Kano has a broader set of programming applications. Piper teaches STEM learning through the Minecraft PC kit and that too without proper instructions. That means your kid has to build the things and set them up on own. On the other hand, Kano provides story-like instructions which help the kids to level up their learning by adding functionalities like tweaking games and browsing the web.
The Piper computer kit is available nearly at $300, while you can purchase the Kano kit with Raspberry Pi at almost half price of $150. One main factor of this price change can be that the Piper kit comes with a 7” LCD while the Kano doesn’t. But one thing for sure that Piper really helps to develop the skills and abilities of your kids in crafting, programming, decision making, and much more areas.
Verdict
The Piper Raspberry Pi computer kit is a stand-out learning kit for kids to get used to building electrical designs, programming different applications, and discovering the whole new computing world. Once the kit is assembled and set, your kid can enjoy playing in Minecraft.
Though there are cheap laptop options available too if it is just the matter of playing Minecraft, your child can learn and build something by self is a big achievement too.
