Custom PC - UK (2020-06)

W

hentheRaspberryPi4 single-

boardcomputerlaunchedlastyea

(seeIssue193),it hadmultipleRA

capacities.Forthestandardtarget

recommendedretailpriceof$35US,a figur

towhichRaspberryPiTradinghasstuckwit

remarkabletenacityovertheyears,despite

thespecificationsclimbingandinflation

pushingthereal-worldvalueof$35down

closerto$30,buyersgotthesame1GB

capacityasthepreviousRaspberryPi 3

ModelB+,albeitinfasterLPDDR4form.

Anyoneneedingmorememoryhadthe

choiceof2GBor4GBmodels,thefirsttime

anyRaspberryPibrokethe1GBbarrier,albeit

atadditionalcost.Now,eightorsomonths

on,there’sbeena rethink. It’sresultedinthe

retirementofthe1GBmodel,withthe2GB

modelbeingpusheddowntotakeitsplaceat

thatheadline$35price.

‘2GBis a muchmoreviabledesktop

platformthan1GB,’RaspberryPiTradingchief

EbenUptonexplainsofthemove.‘1GBis great

forembedded,butfora desktopplatform

it’sjusta littlebittootight.Whatit meansis

thatwe’renowbacktohavinga reallyviable

desktopmachineatoursignaturepricepoint.

‘If youlookatthelasteightyears,you’venow

goteighttimesasmuchmemory,about 40

andstartedconsumingmorememory- when

wereallyhaven’t.We’restillusinganLXDE-

deriveddesktopenvironment.Wedocare

aboutevery10MB;that’sthereasonwhythe

2GBis ourreally,reallyusefuldesktop.’

Therehavealsobeenotherchangessince

launch,whichevenearlyadopterscanenjoy.

UpdatestotheDebian-derivedRaspbian

operatingsystemandthefirmwareforthe

RaspberryPi4 haveslashedpowerdrawand

heatoutput– bothundeniableissueswiththe

fullRaspberryPi4 familyatlaunch.Thevery

latestfirmwarerevisionshavebeentestedas

droppingidlepowerdrawfrom2.89Wto2.1W

andloadfroma hair-raising7.28Wto6.41W.

Forthoseupgradingfromearlierdevicesor

comingfreshtotheecosystem,thechoiceis

simple:2GBor4GB?Theformeris nowthe

cheapestRaspberryPi4 around,andhasmore

thanenoughpowerforeverythingfrombasic

desktopandeducationalusetoretrogaming.

The4GBboardwillsetyoubacka littlemore,

butoffersa chunkmoreheadroom– thesort

ofspaceyoumightneedif usinga Raspberry

Pi4 asa fileserver,databaseserver,orif you’re

fiddlingaboutwithmachinelearning.

Bothmodelsareavailablenowfromthe

usualresellers.If youthinkyoucangetaway

withjust1GBofRAM,youmayalsofindold

stocksteeplydiscounted,thoughthisis likelyto

runoutrelativelyquickly.

CUSTOMISATION / HOBBY TECH

NEWS

Raspberry Pi 4

2GB price drop

p g p ,

timesasmuchI/Obandwidth.You’vegotfour

timesasmanypixelson-screen,twoscreens

andyou’veaddedWi-FiandBluetooth.’

Whilethenewsmaydisappointpeoplewho

hadalreadysplashedoutonthe1GBmodel,

thiscouldn’thavehappenedatlaunch- only

thefallingpriceoftherequiredDRAMmodule

hasmadeit possiblenow.It’snotjustdoubling

theRAMthatmakestheRaspberryPi4 Model

B 2GBa usabledesktopplatformeither– it’s

anentirelydifferentapproachtodevelopment

thanyoufindinthedesktoporlaptopmarkets.

‘Comparedtoeithera Windowsplatform,

oreventoa traditionalLinuxplatform,there’s

beena sortofrelaxation,’saysUpton.‘Asthere’s

beenmorememorypeoplehaveloosened

theirbeltsa littlebit,andsortofflumpeddown

Gareth Halfacree is a keen computer hobbyist, journalist, and author. His work can be found at freelance.halfacree.co.uk @ghalfacree

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times as much processing power, and about ten The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 1GB is dead;

long live the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 2GB!

There’s effectively no difference between the

1GB and 2GB models, bar the DRAM module used