The Raspberry Pi 4 has arrived. With faster performance and new capabilities, this fourth-generation single-board mini PC will give hobbyists the ability to create advanced gadgets at a low cost.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation claims that the newest single-board computer is the first to "replicate the full range of capabilities of a traditional PC."
Raspberry Pi 4 pricing and availability
The Raspberry Pi 4 is available today starting at $35 (the same price as the Raspberry Pi 3) and will be offered in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB variants. An optional "Desktop Kit" will bundle a mouse, keyboard, SD card, power supply, case and cables. You can buy the Raspberry Pi 4 from element14 or OKdo.
MORE: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B-Plus – Full Review
If you've never heard of a Raspberry Pi, these single-board computers have a range of uses, from teaching kids valuable STEM skills to helping hobbyists create unique gadgets, like DIY web servers, set-top boxes and security cameras. It also lets developers hone their coding skills using a range of programming languages, from Scratch to Python and C++.
“This is a significant development for the PC market as a whole," Raspberry Pi Co-Founder Eben Upton said. "Raspberry Pi is already one of the best-selling computers of all time. In Q4 of 2018, Raspberry Pi 3+ and earlier models accounted for 2.5% of the global PC market. The improved capabilities of Raspberry Pi 4 should allow us to address a much larger fraction of that market.”
Raspberry Pi 4 performance
Raspberry Pi claims this fourth-generation single-board computer offers three times the processing power and four times the multimedia performance of the Raspberry Pi 3.
The Raspberry Pi 4 will come with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 CPU running at 1.5Ghz, which can decode high-dynamic range 4Kp60 HEVC and drive two 4K screens simultaneously for powering monitors or digital signage.
“The vision behind Raspberry Pi 4 is to make a rich multimedia PC experience accessible to everyone,” Upton said. “By offering a ‘just right’ level of performance for most users, we’ve been able to do this at roughly a tenth the cost of a traditional desktop PC."
Raspberry Pi 4 new features
The credit-card-sized computer is also said to enable superfast file-transfer speeds, multi-tab web browsing and advanced video and editing. Connectivity has also been improved on the new model, with the debut of Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5 and USB 3.0 support. Some of those features aren't even available on the latest premium laptops.
Best of all, the Raspberry Pi 4 will be backward-compatible, so most of your creations should work without making changes to the new device.
Read this Raspberry Pi 4 review by our sister site, Tom's Hardware, to find out how the new single-board mini PC stacks up against its predecessor.
