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Raspberry Pi: 5 Reasons Why You Should Already Own One

5 Reasons Why You Should Already Own A Raspberry Pi
Thomas Tamblyn
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The Raspberry Pi has become the UK's all-time best-selling computer, selling over eight million units worldwide.

Yet despite this momentous accolade many people outside of a classroom or 'tinkering shed' have probably only ever heard about it through the news.

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Costing less than a video game, the £30 Raspberry Pi 3 is a miniature computer designed to be used for education and experimentation.

Whether it's designing your own WiFi-connected Kettle or learning how to code for the first time, the Raspberry Pi foundation created the small board of silicon as a stepping stone for everyone of every age.

With a veritable encyclopedia of tutorials for it, Pi is the perfect hobby gadget. With the 'Internet of Things' promising to turn almost all of our possessions into 'smart' devices as well now's the time to learn how it all works.

5 Reasons You Should Already Own A Raspberry Pi
It's CHEAP!(01 of05)
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Raspberry Pi is probably the cheapest hobby you'll ever get into. It costs just £30 and all you need is a keyboard, mouse and TV (which we're assuming most of you have). That's literally it. If you want to get creative there's an army of gadgets you can attach and they cost everything from £5-100 so there's something for everyone. (credit:Photofusion via Getty Images)
Your kids are probably already better at it than you...(02 of05)
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Raspberry Pi has proven to be a massive success in the classrooms. Thanks to its effortless simplicity it's helping kids everywhere learn how to code. Coding is no longer the pursuit of the classic 'nerd' so if there's one subject you want to stay on top of, it's this. Nothing's more rewarding than writing your own software for an alarm that'll tell your kids to do their homework. (credit:Photofusion via Getty Images)
You can build yourself a robot butler(03 of05)
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Raspberry Pi isn't just great for writing software, it's also a really powerful 'brain' for robots. Think of it as Lego for the silicon era - you simply stick the pieces together and create whatever you want. From a NASA-style rover to a government-loving surveillance robot you'll be building your own 'Internet of Things' gadgets in no time. (credit:YOSHIKAZU TSUNO via Getty Images)
It'll help you understand the 'Internet of Things'(04 of05)
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The 'Internet of Things' is here and now's the time to actually start working out what it is. From smart thermostats to wifi-connected kettles they're the future gadgets that'll upgrade your home. The coolest thing about it though is you can actually build your own! A Google engineer built himself his very own smart mirror using nothing but a tiny computer, a mirror and some simple coding.
You can create your own video games!(05 of05)
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What you're looking at is Minecraft - the global video game phenomenon. It also happens to be a game that runs on Raspberry Pi, and runs rather well. That's because Pi is much, much faster than you might think. The new version is a staggering 10x faster than the original which makes it perfect as the place within which to build your very own video game.
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