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A funny thing happens when the price of a pocket sized computer comes down to $35.
If you're creatively inclined, at least, you start to wonder what kinds of projects you could make with an almost disposable computer.
I'm Donald Bell.
In this top five, I'm counting down my favorite uses for the Raspberry Pi.
[NOISE] Starting off at number five, [NOISE] use it as an actual computer.
I know it's not very creative but if you're looking for the bare minimum excuse to buy a Raspberry Pi just know that you can plug in a keyboard and a mouse and an HDMI monitor and you can use this as a practical little Linux computer or even dabble in the world of Windows 10.
And if you want to get creative just make a cool case for it or shove it inside an old Commodore 64.
Coming in at number four, use your Raspberry Pi to power your own photo booth.
That's right: you can up your selfie game by making a dedicated photo booth for you and your friends.
With a digital camera and a photo printer and a couple LEDs and a start button, you've practically got your own mobile wedding photo business.
And there's a version of this project that uploads animated GIFs to Tumblr.
So just set it up and found the baby panda enclosure at the sure and watch the internet break.
At number three, make your own internet radio.
What if you can buy off the shelf for so dull?
With a pie and a screen and a couple of speakers, you can retrofit an old jukebox or make your own custom enclosure that you can be proud off.
Because the pie has a built-in audio output the hard part is just setting up the software.
Coming in at number two, build a freaking robot.
Especially with the enhanced processing power of the Pi 2, a robot based on Pi can do some serious image and spatial processing to find its away around.
I found a site called PiBorg.org, entirely dedicated to Pi robotics.
Everything from little toy bots that can scoot around your desk to terrifying doodle borg.
That you can actually stand on, but I wouldn't.
Which brings us to my vote for the number one use for a Raspberry Pi, a retro game console.
There's the Cupcade, the Super Game Pi, the Pi Girl Gameboy, and about a hundred other retro console emulation projects out there.
And that's just for the original Pi.
The Pi 2, has already been seen emulating PS1 games.
So get ready for a whole new wave of Pi gaming projects.
And because the Pi works out of the box with USB gamepads, HDMI output, and built-in audio, it's just an irresistible project for gamers.
So there you go, five excuses to buy a $35 Raspberry Pi computer.
If you make something cool with it, let me know, I'm @donald on Twitter.
You can also find me and more videos like this at top5.cnet.com.
I'm Donald Bell, thanks for watching.
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