Raspberry Pi 5: Better Specs, Sharper
The Broadcom-led single-board computers have garnered a fanbase of its own since launch
Four years after releasing Raspberry Pi 4, the UK-based foundation that joined hands with Broadcom to launch small single-board computers in 2012, have come out with a mightier computer in the series. The Raspberry Pi 5 features updated components, better specifications and some custom silicon.
What’s the Raspberry though?
For those of you who may not be familiar with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, it was set up in 2012, with the aim of delivering basic computer education at schools. Over the years, the team has designed and sold inexpensive single-board computers that are about as big as a pack of playing cards.
Based on the ARM systems, the product carries all features of a full-scale computer including USB ports, HDMi output, ethernet ports for networking and beyond. Since its early offerings, the Raspberry Pi has added features such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. The entire package led innovators to use these mini-computers to create servers, game consoles, robotics etc.
Besides using these small and smart devices for school projects, amateur techies started pushing their use as an early step in the process towards coding and networking. Soon, even some companies in the UK started using Raspberry Pi as industrial controllers or client servers at the workplaces.
So, how’s Raspberry Pi 5 different?
Compared to the Raspberry Pi 4 models, the latest one features a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A76 processor that runs at 2.4GHz, supports Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 and comes with Gigabit Ethernet. It carries two micro-HDMi ports that can take two 4K displays with a 60Hz refresh rate besides additional HDR support for one Raspberry Pi.
What’s that cliche about good things coming in small packages? Well, this is quite true with the Raspberry Pi 5 that has two USB 3.0 ports that supports simultaneous 5Gbps transfer speeds as well as two full-size USB 2.0 ports and a USB-C port that does the powering up. However, the unique shift this time round is that the latest edition makes it easier to add PCI Express peripherals via a new single-lane PCIe 2.0 interface.
However, there’s a small catch that one has to procure a HAT extension or an adapter to use this interface. In fact, even the power-over-Ethernet is supported via a Hardware Attached on Top (HAT). There’s the regular 40-pin header and MIPI camera / display ports, which has incidentally been upgraded to 2×4 lanes as is the case with the microSD card slot.
The Raspberry Pi 5 comes in two variants with the 4GB of RAM edition priced at $60 and the 8GB version at $80. Those that may find the prices a bit steep compared with the existing model, remember that the Raspberry Pi 4 is still available and the actual price difference between the two models is just $5.
The main system and the chip continues to be designed by Broadcom, but the Raspberry Pi 5 is now using custom silicon called the RP1. This is a first for the company and the southbridge chip that handles I/O functions and replaces a few that were previously handled by the main system, is now available in house.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a custom chip has come out of the Raspberry Pi stable, given that the team had designed its own microcontroller chip for the Raspberry Pi Pico. This was used for IoT devices, light displays and manufacturing processes. Maybe, unit economics is what is making the company have more control over its components.
