System was very easy to get up and running. Parts were individually packaged inside an outer box, which kept them from getting scuffed up in shipping. Many of the parts were marked with obvious warning stickers that directly addressed some easy mistake that could set you back, and that's pretty handy if you're new to all of this.The kit comes with the software installed on the little memory card, so you can get up and running without internet, but if you're at the "select what operating system you want to install" screen and connect to an internet-enabled network (which is automatic and smooth), the screen automatically updates with the other operating systems and current versions without further tinkering.Looking at this kit as a computer build, I would say this was the easiest, and least confusing I've ever done. It feels silly to say that about a computer like this, but I'd say this 'build' was less troublesome than taking a ready-to-use laptop or HTPC out of the box and getting them to do the things I want them to do. The Windows-like operating system loads fast and doesn't have dozens of frustrating, bundled applications vying for additional pay, needing to be uninstalled and resisting deinstallation.Most wonderful of all was that the specific things I needed to figure out (installing and self-starting Synergy and writing a temperature-checking script) are well covered by abundant and clear-cut community web pages.I was a little confused by the thumbdrive/SDcard adapter, thinking that I would need it for making a boot image or something. As it turns out, the adapter isn't needed for anything in this kit and I'm not sure why it was included. I previously had to put the little SD cards into a larger version (adapter) and then stick it in my camera, connected to a computer via USB, so I'm certainly not going to complain about the upgrade. Of course, if I wanted more kits for future projects, having a bunch of these adapters laying around would be somewhat of a nuisance.As for the performance, I bought this kit to simply stream a particular 24/7 stock trading network to a computer monitor. Sadly, I was hoping to view the stream at full 1080p, and this kit can only stream at 480p without constantly pausing. There could be various causes, but none of them are external to the device. Also, it seems to generate a bit of heat. I don't know if it's getting hot enough to cause failure, but I opted to cut a square hole in the lid, affix a 40mm PC fan with hot glue, and am reading temps of 35.4c GPU and 35c CPU while streaming 480p full screen now.All in all, I'd say that this is an excellent, even ideal, kit to do a minor computer task or as a bottom-dollar first computer that will help someone get familiar with Linux-like operating systems, which pretty much run the world.