The first Raspberry Pi began a computing revolution, making it easier than ever before to buy and build a small computing device. As is often the case in computing, the first device was followed up by increasingly more powerful devices, with additional cost.
Raspberry Pi however isn’t about profit, it’s about use. As such the newest device isn’t more expensive, it’s actually cheaper – a whole lot cheaper. The
new Raspberry Pi retails for the absurdly low retail price of $5.
No that’s not a typo that’s the price.
The first Raspberry Pi i bought cost me $39 a Raspberry Pi B. I’ve since acquire a B+ and a pair of Raspberry Pi 2’s each costing about the same. The Raspberry Pi Zero is not as powerful as the RP2, but it’s still got enough power to handle many embedded types of applications.
The listed specifications are:
- A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
- 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
- A micro-SD card slot A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
- Micro-USB sockets for data and powe
- r An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
Aside from the price, the biggest thing to not about the Raspberry Pi zero is its’ small size of only 65mm x 30mm x 5mm.
While the Raspberry Pi Foundation is boasting of the low price, commenters on the official Raspberry Pi blog are already complaining that actually only paying $5 for the zero isn’t a reality at most retailers, with most prices actually hovering above $20.
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist
