I was a “Genius” for years.. this happens sometimes, but rarely. Everytime it did, we immediately swapped the machine out, no questions asked, and transferred all their data over while they waited. No customer service calls, no appointments, literally we just did a real quick check (30 seconds) and ran into the back…

Ah, interesting. I received one maybe 3 weeks ago and it had one, but I was honestly very surprised they could offer the board, “case”, and cord at that price point (I managed to get in at the $8 sale). You’re probably right.

I’d recommend the Pine64 above nearly all of these, actually. They start at $15 for quad core, 64bit processors. You can also get Bluetooth/wifi modules very inexpensively that insert into a connector on the board, saving your USB ports. Also, their support and OS images are immaculate, with offerings like Remix OS…

The Orange Pi is obviously more powerful and less expensive for what it offers but the OS images, support, and community are an absolute nightmare. I’ve tried just about every single linux (and Android) distribution offered and only one or two actually work. Even if they do work, they are endlessly buggy and basically…

The C.H.I.P. comes with the needed RCA cable in the box as well as a “case” which is a plastic slab that clips to the bottom to keep the PCB from touching the surface it’s resting on. The biggest drawback is the time it will take to recieve one, as they are back ordered with manufacturing difficulties for a few months…