The Raspberry Pi is a $ 25 credit-card sized computer that has taken the geek world by storm. It’s a joy for tinkerers because it allows the introduction of some serious computing power into junkyard projects. It means that we can now do water droplet photography on the cheap or even build a budget supercomputer.

I received my own Raspberry Pi fresh from the oven a few weeks ago from RS India. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the board and the infinite possibilities that lay before me. But before I could start to work on the Pi controlled thermonuclear reactor of my dreams, I knew I had to find a secure place to put the board in. A quick search on ebay led me to the RPi_Shop. They stock a range of cases but the Stripped Acrylic Case caught my fancy. It’s reasonably priced and comes with a free RCA cable to sweeten the deal.

The guys at the RPi_Shop are very professional and I enjoyed their proactive and responsive service. The case was shipped to me the very same day I purchased it and was sitting on my desk ready to sheath my precious Pi the next – making me one very happy customer.

The case consists of multiple layers of acrylic 9 layers of acrylic which when put together form one solid shell for the Pi. I would recommend buying this case over snap-in model . It just feels a lot more rigid and looks an order of magnitude better. The craftsmanship was excellent with no visible defects in the acrylic. The laser cut raspberry pattern on top and the alternating black layers gives it a really classy look.

Assembly was a simple procedure. One simply needs to stack layers 0 to 2 onto each other, place the raspberry Pi face up on it, stack the rest of the layers on top and fasten the assembly with the 4 provided nut-bolts. Make sure to just hand-tighten it. Putting too much stress on the acrylic is not a good idea. The case fits the board like a rather pretty glove and leaves all the important I/O ports unobstructed. Unfortunately the insulating acrylic can’t act as a heat sink but the laser cut pattern allows for sufficient ventilation.

Overall I am happy to have picked up a very reasonably priced and well-built case for my Pi. If you want a case that’s a little more upcale consider this one. Makes me wish banks were a lot easier to steal from. Well maybe we can come up with a Pi powered bank robbing robot.