Argon ONE M.2 Aluminum Case for Raspberry Pi 4 with SATA SSD Support | Power Button and Fan | Compatible B-Key and B+M Key

For starters, the product is amazing. I will give a few criticisms here. Don't take those as reasons not to buy this product, buy it anyway because it is the best case I've seen for the Pi. I am listing these downsides constructively and as a heads up to potential buyers so that you will know to mitigate these. Aside from these couple of things this product case is awesome, and even these couple of things are not a big deal at all. First, and probably the worst (though it's not that bad) is the connection for the power supply. I've been using this case for weeks now, and I move it around a fair amount. That means plugging/unplugging the power supply. I've noticed it has some movement when I connect it. It will kind of wiggle up/down after being connected. It comes from the piece that is on the inside of the case to which the USB-C power supply cord connects (not the cord itself, which is the Argon power supply, also highly recommended). I can foresee that failing, so I am very careful with it. It's possible that it will last a very long time. The movement doesn't necessarily mean it will fail, but it makes me nervous. I imagine they could make a slight change to that part to make it more sturdy. Maybe give it a slight recess or something so that any tension from moving it around would be between the USB-C cord itself and the body of the case, rather than on the little connection components themselves. Again, might last forever, but to my mind that will be the first point of failure for this product. If you move it around a lot, be careful with that part when plugging/unplugging especially. If you intend to leave it in the same place mostly and won't be unplugging it much, then this won't affect you at all. The second thing is heavily dependent on personal preference and use case, but to me the shape of it is somewhat awkward. It's not bad per se, it actually even looks nice, but the shape is not the most functional. It sits very stable and looks good, but it has that slope to it that would prevent you from sitting anything on it in a stable way and you wouldn't really be able to do things like sitting it on its side or upside down, etc. Not a huge drawback, but I can easily see reasons that you would want to position it differently. So while it looks great, being more squared would make it more functional. Related to this is that the GPIO is located on the top where you would very naturally want to sit something, but because of the slope anything attached to the GPIO and sitting on the top of the case would lean, thus putting pressure on the GPIO and maybe bending them or causing a disconnect or something. The third thing is super minor - the cover for the GPIO compartment is great but a little bit tricky to get off. That's a double edged sword, though. You want the thing to be very secure - and it is. But when you want to take it off, you have to fumble with it a bit, or at least I do. There's no notch, tab, etc. where you can easily get a grip to open it. Mine had a problem with one of the magnets that keeps that bit attached. The first time I opened it, one of the magnets that holds it in place stayed on the case rather than coming off with the lid. In other words, the magnet on the lid is supposed to stay attached inside the lid but it wasn't glued in there well. It still does it's job fine, I haven't even glued it on. The entire thing is metal (at least, all of it except the bottom part that houses the SSD), so the magnet clings to the case and the lid regardless of whether it is glued or not. I could see losing it when it stays stuck to the case when you take the lid off. Depending on what you're doing with it, you might knock it off the case, forget about it, etc. Then the lid wouldn't attach to the lid correctly without it there. I could glue it if I wanted, I suppose. So minor of an issue I haven't even bothered to do even that simple of a fix...Long story short - best case around for the Pi, great price, great construction, does exactly what you want it to do, only downsides are super minor, very picky things. Buy it.

I wanted to move from using an SD card for my Pi as I was worried about the longevity of constantly using my Pi. Once I figured out exactly what SSD that was compatible the process of mounting the card was simple. I had a weird side effect in that my Bluetooth reception went wonky. I used a higher voltage power brick to power the Pi and it seamed that the situation cleared up. Was this because of the new case design or power draw by the SSD? Maybe but I’m not certain.

The Product: This is really a great little case with a solid feel; the upper body is metal, which serves as a passive heat sink though there is also an included fan (which I have found to be fairly quiet) for active cooling. The instructions for adding support for the safe-shutdown features of the power circuit are easy enough to follow. The bottom is dark smokey but translucent plastic so that the included internal IR receiver can work. Probably helps with the WiFi, which I have not had a problem with. And you can see the Pi's LEDs, which is a plus. I really like how all the I/O ports are moved to the rear on this case. Less clutter and a cleaner installation overall.Use Case: I got this case to use in a general-purpose "desktop" Pi setup for tinkering and development of Pi, Arduino, NodeMCU (ESP-8266), ESP-32, and similar projects. I really appreciate the magnetic cover and convenient labeling of the GPIO header pins. When I'm not tinkering with electronics, it covers up snugly and has a nice look. But it comes off easily and has easy to read labels for when I want to stick a DuPont wire in there and connect it to some project on the breadboard. I also use this Pi for occasional retro gaming and media consumption. Though that is not my primary use case, it is a great choice for such a setup.Caveats: For my use case, I occasionally need to boot off of different SD cards and you have to open the case to access this. You can set it to boot from a SATA M.2 SSD, which is an awesome feature. But there too you still have to open the case to change the boot media if your use demands it. They could have designed it to allow SD card access, but it would have affected the clean front-facing aesthetic. Especially since the RPi's SD card slot is not spring loaded. So more than a simple recessed slot, you need enough access for your thumbnail to remove them. As this makes a great case for a media-center, retro-gaming, or Pi desktop which would typically just be set to boot from the SSD and left alone, I understand why they chose form over function here. It's a hassle I can cope with. Fortunately the bottom screws mount through to threaded metal rather than plastic, which is a huge win for re-opening and closing frequently.EXTRA CREDIT: I had an outstanding customer service experience with Argon40. For some unfathomable reason, the I/O extender printed circuit board that came with the kit was not working. It is meant to relocate the A/V audio and HDMI ports from the side of the RPi to the bask of the case. I was unable to get video to work on either port. I tested everything and even used a brand new HDMI cable until I was sure that the PCB was the problem. The customer service was quick and courteous, shipping out to me a replacement part which arrived very quickly. A matter of a few days all the way from Hong Kong. The whole experience was very low friction; no resistance to providing a replacement. They took time to read and contemplate my problem description, offering suggestions and showing interest in understanding why it failed. Normally I would have to chop a star for getting a bad part. But the friendly and prompt customer service more than makes up for it. They were even kind enough to send replacement silicone pads to mate with the heat sinks as my many removals and re-installs of the Pi and the AV board had taken it's toll on the original included thermal pads. I should say that outside of the bum PCB, the build quality is really top notch.Conclusion: I am a happy customer, pleased with the product and *especially* pleased to know the company will stand behind their product and gives attentive support. That matters a lot. I am sure I will be a repeat customer in the future.

This is an awesome little case and I have bought several of these.My complaints are:1) The SSD still is routed through the USB port so don't expect any blazing speeds or the ability to boot off the SSD.2) The fan is cheap and gets really noisy. I disconnected it and it's running fine.Otherwise, this is a great little case.