Makers Rejoice! There’s a New, Less Power-Hungry Raspberry Pi Model

Meet the Raspberry Pi Model B+ from Raspberry Pi Foundation on Vimeo.

The Raspberry Pi is often heralded by the maker movement as the micro-computer to beat (though its not the only game in town), and it’s just released a new, less power-hungry model with a few new features. Let’s take a look at the Raspberry Pi B+.

Director of Hardware James Adams and Raspberry Pi Trading CEO Eben Upton show off the B+ in the video above, but here are the highlights:

• The B+ uses less power, running between 0.5 and 1.0W
• There are now 4 USB 2.0 ports instead of 2
• The SD card slot has been replaced with a micro SD slot
• The B+ now features 40 GPIO pins
• A new power supply creates less noise and better audio
• The video output now shares the 3.5mm audio jack

The previous “B” Raspberry Pi will still be available as long as there’s a demand for it, so if you happen to have a very specific project that relies on something the B had that the B+ doesn’t, don’t worry. Although there’s aren’t any major changes here. The B+ has the same processor and RAM (512MB) capacity as the B, but the additional pins and USB ports seem like they’d open up the Pi to a lot more options when it comes to what projects it can tackle.

The B+ is already available from sources that usually supply the Raspberry Pi for $35.

(Raspberry Pi via The Next Web, image via Raspberry Pi)

Previously in small computers doing big things

• We got a hands-on look at Raspberry Pi competitor BeagleBone Black (and loved it)
• We saw a lot of great maker projects at last year’s World Maker Faire
• The “Picade” turns a Raspberry Pi into an arcade cabinet

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