What model raspberry pi I buy

We have been with the Raspberry Pi in our market for almost four years. And every day it confirms that it is an excellent electronic device ideal for developing new projects, using it as a low-power mini computer or as a cheap television player (in the SmarTV style) with Kodi. For these and many more reasons we have created the guide: Which Raspberry Pi model do I buy ?

It all started with the first computer to learn how to program…

It is a fact that over the years computers have become much more complex. I am not referring to its size, but rather that in the 80s teenagers were able to program without much difficulty, whereas today doing this is much more complex.

Computers like the BBC Micro allowed teens to learn programming, but today we can use a computer without having to see a line of code. For this simple reason, a Broadcom engineer took it upon himself to design an inexpensive microcomputer with the primary goal of re-inspiring young minds to learn programming, just as it had previously been. It was at this time that the Raspberry Pi Foundation was created.

Paying a small tribute to the BBC Micro, the Raspberry team decided to give the same name to their models: A, B and B +. The first to go on sale was the Raspberry Pi B in 2012 (read article What is raspberry?) And at a price of about 35 euros. A year later, in February 2013 the Raspberry PI A went on sale at an even cheaper price of 25 euros. In just two years they managed to sell millions of units of Raspberry Pi, plus they have released three new models since then.

Taking into account that the main objective of the Raspberry Pi was the education of young people, it does not mean that these are computers made for children. It is simply a computer, which has a huge list of different applications in different advanced fields such as robotics, serving in the construction of a robot or even a mini-console.

In any case, the Raspberry Pi continue to raise enormous interest in young people, mainly because being able to have a functional micro-computer that fits in your pocket is possible for paying a few dollars. Besides that it is very fun to start testing with it and use its many accessories and tools.

We can say that the models A, A +, B and B + have a power very similar to what we could find in the teams with Pentium III, as well as a graphic power similar to what we saw in the original Xbox video console, although little by little it has improved to play any MKV 1080p file without any problem.

If you have been thinking about buying a Raspberry Pi, you will surely be surprised to see that there is a very long list of models available, which could be very confusing. So to make your life easier, next I will talk more about the different models and their functionalities.

What are the different Raspberry Pi models?

I will start by saying that so far there are six different Raspberry models, which we will see below.

Raspberry Pi A | BCM2835 at 700 Mhz

As I mentioned earlier, this is the cheapest and most basic version. It has a size of 85.5 x 56.5 mm, a weight of 45 grams and a current consumption of 1.5W. Its price is around $ 25.

Among other of its specifications, we find a 250 MHz VideoCore IV graphics processor, a Broadcom BCM2835 chip with a 700MHz ARM1176JZF CPU and a 256 MB RAM memory.

It also has HDMI 1.4 connection, 3.5mm Jack output, RCA video, SD card slot, USB port and eight GP connectors.

Raspberry A +

This model, as its name implies, is a variant of model A that comes with some improvements. We can find more GPIO connectors, a better audio system, microSD support, a smaller size and lower power consumption.

Its measurements are slightly larger, measuring 65 x 56.5 mm and a weight of 23 grams. Now it consumes 1W. You could find it a few years ago in online stores from $ 23.

Raspberry Pi B | BCM2835 at 700 Mhz

This was the first Raspberry model that the world knew, although it is still better than version A, starting with the fact that it has a 512 MB RAM and one more USB port. It also has a 10/100 Ethernet connection that gives you an internet connection via an RJ45 cable to your router. Apart from that it has the same hardware as version A.

As for their measurements, they are also exactly the same. A weight of 45 grams and 85.6 x 56.5 mm. Although this consumes more power with 3.5 W. It can be found at a price of $ 32 dollars.

Raspberry Pi B +

This is one of the best versions made so far. Featuring the same hardware as the B model, but adding a micro SD card slot, two USB ports, and better audio. In addition it also has a lower power consumption: 3W of TDP. It is already discontinued but at the time it can be purchased for about 35 euros.

Raspberry Pi 2 | BCM2836 900MHZ + 1GB RAM

This is the Raspberry Pi 2 model that came out last year and that has given such good times to many users, including users of our staff. Here if we find quite important improvements. In this model they stopped using the BCM2835 chip that had been used in all previous models to release the BCM2836 with more MHZ and keeping the same architecture, the Pi 2 B comes with a lot of new features and improvements. We detail it:

Now it has included a 1GB RAM upgrade to 450 MHz (the previous ones were 400 MHz) and a new quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU at 900 MHz. As we can see, it is much more powerful than its predecessors, in fact, its Creators claim that it is up to 6 times more powerful than previous models.

WE RECOMMEND YOU How to download all the data that Facebook has about you

In addition to this, it is compatible with updating to Windows 10. It is still available at a cheap price of 35 euros.

Raspberry Pi 3 |

The latest model that has been manufactured and confirmed a few days ago on our website. This model has created a new hype in these mini-pcs, since it comes with a series of really interesting novelties that make it the best Raspberry Pi by difference.

Among its main innovations we can find an ARM Cortex A53 processor, quad-core 1.2 GHz 64 bits, which is presumed to give us up to 10 times better performance than the original Raspberry and up to 50% better than the Raspberry model Pi Pi 2.

But the news that has attracted the most attention is that the Raspberry Pi 3 now includes Bluetooth and Wi-fi connectivity, making the dream of millions of users come true, since in previous models it was necessary to use USB wireless adapters to be able to connect to the network without the need for Ethernet cables.

Of course, it still maintains the other hardware features like USB ports, MicroSD slot, 10/100 Ethernet input . When a Gigabit connection? , etc… Although it has these interesting and expected news, the price is still very cheap, staying around 35 euros.

Raspberry Pi Zero | Next launch

The launch of this Raspberry Pi model is still unknown but the first units have already been shipped to the graceful. The idea of ​​this Raspberry Pi Zero is to mount a cluster of just 80 to 100 euros with great power for heavy tasks consuming very little in an IKEA drawer unit. As they hardly get hot, we can install a small 8 cm fan expelling air. What is known is that it will have a single-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, miniHDMI connection , USB OTG, a microUSB connection for power and a 40-pin HAT. There will also be a motherboard to connect them all in parallel. The party starts!

Where can I buy the chosen Raspberry Pi model?

Well, there is actually a huge list of online stores that have all the Raspberry models available, although you should bear in mind that the Raspberry Pi 3 model is still very new, so you may not yet find it available in many stores.

However you can try to buy it in the manufacturer's official store: Raspberry Shop. We have also seen it for direct purchase at Element14, RS Componentes and in computer stores such as PCComponentes. They are even starting to be listed in third party stores on Amazon. We recommend reading the article on: What uses can I give a Raspberry Pi? 100% recommended .