We have a surprise for you today: Raspberry Pi 4 is now on sale, starting at $35. This is a comprehensive upgrade, touching almost every element of the platform. For the first time we provide a PC-like level of performance for most users, while retaining the interfacing capabilities and hackability of the classic Raspberry Pi line.
The specification bump is quite something, and the pricing is as good as it’s always been. This is a no-brainer buy for me.
The next version should have fast storage. MicroSD for an OS isn’t a great option for many use cases. I would love to see an eMMC port or better yet please give us an M.2 port.
As the Pi4 now have USB3 ports, booting from an SSD with an adpater may be an option.
Does the SoC support booting from USB3? I doubt it.
Not sure about this particular one, but previous ones have been able to varying degrees, albeit while still requiring some minimal amount of bootstrap code on an SD card.
Booting from USB is not a SoC feature as the USB3 is managed by a VIA chip. It’s not yet available, thought.
I doubt the SoC support PCIexpress (AFAIK needed for M.2)
But, yes and eMMC as additional boot option would be good,
From what I’ve seen the ethernet port (and USB?) use PCIe. USB3 is great and all, but something self-contained inside a case would be better,
You’re right, Ethernet and USB use respectively Broadcom and VIA chips on a PCIe Gen2 lane.
@DeepThought: you have too much doubts about that RPi 😉
I’ve just done a bit of a survey in regions, interesting price splits appear at resellers between the three models 1, 2 or 4 GB. It would seem the 1GB version is redundant before it goes on sale while some resellers are placing a premium on the 4GB version which seems exorbitantly priced, leaving the 2GB the apparent sweet spot!
I found the resellers not really following the official RRP guidelines, with many offering a smaller price differential between 1GB and 2GB than the official RRP. I guess this is the resellers wanting to normalise stock levels and 2GB is the compromise.
It is a pity that they swapped Ethernet/USB positions compared to the 3B+
Why ? Because of cases ? Aren’t holes basically the same size and position ?
This is quite the shocker as the Pi 4 wasn’t supposed to come out until 2020. This becomes quite the Living Room PC, and at a very affordable price. Stunned! Remember the dream of the $100 PC?
Pinebook ? Already at $99 for quite a long time…
Kochise,
Yeah, there have been a lot of options for ARM at the $100 price point. At $35 (without accessories) the raspberry pi is especially cheap, but it also lags behind on specs. I’m eager for benchmarks between PI4 and odroid N2.
https://www.hardkernel.com/blog-2/odroid-n2
As usual, the raspberry pi is not available in the US at roll out. (just checked and all 6 US suppliers say sold-out or backordered for a month). The poor US logisticsis one of the reasons I end up buying other SBC products instead. Here in the US we’re so used to getting products first that we feel annoyed when the tables are turned as with the raspberry pi. We’re so entitled, haha.
Take into account the keyboard, the mouse, the screen and the storage. Does the RPi fare well once it is equipped like it’s competition ?
They have one with the official case, power supply, mouse, keyboard, and two micro-hdmi cables for $120. So everything but a monitor.
JLF65,
Another note, 1GB ram is more than enough for IOT devices and tinkering with automation/GPIO. But for anyone specifically wanting to use this as a desktop PC for web browsing and installing office apps, I’d strongly recommend the 4GB ram for everyone regardless of the extra price.
Alfman,
Very true. Spend the extra $20 for 4GB. It’s like a minimum required these days. Getting harder to run even with that much. I’ve got only 8GB in my desktop, and thinking of going to 16GB.
I’m really excited about the Pinebook Pro coming out. Like many people, I will order as soon as it’s released!
p.s. – I know there are many sub-$100 choices. That was my point. Not too long ago the idea of a $100 computer seemed far-fetched. Now you can get one for $5 (the zero with no wifi). I have many PI’s (Orange PI, Nano-PI. etc, etc). I also have some of the more Powerful SBC’s. What a great time to be a tinkerer.
Indeed
The reason for choosing RPi is price. I mean, there’s a lot of “better” alternatives. What’s impressive about the 4, is RPi on the cheap just became a lot more powerful and relevant.
(of course, there appears to be an 8G RPi 4 in the works…. not saying people shouldn’t hop on board now, but maybe there’s something even better coming??)
Go RPi 4!!
(RPi is used above as an abbreviation for Raspberry Pi)
Some Raspberry Pi 4 reviews are coming in…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVfyTd3YDL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0diTHAmVbhc
While it’s a decent upgrade to the PI3, apparently it does not have enough power to do 4k video decoding. And it regularly logs overheat warnings when all cores are used. This pretty much mirrors my experience with similar ARM SBCs, they get very hot. This could be ok for users who have lighter workloads, but it will not sustain full performance without a better case + cooling.