New Raspberry Pi A+ goes on sale

The older version available for only US$20

The new Raspberry Pi is finally here. We spotted the A+ over the weekend which was only for a product page at Element14 describing the computer to disappear. The A+ was listed on RS Online’s Australian site during the wee hours of the British morning and was priced at AU$41.00. (US$35.56, £22.37 and €24.48) and ever since then the product has been appearing on RS Online’s UK site at an even £20.00. And since it got very obvious, the Pi guys made it official and we have gotten the complete list of specs which have been listed below;

• Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and VideoCore IV dual-core GPU

• 512MB SDRAM (Model B+), 256MB SDRAM (Model A+)

• HD 1080p video output

• Composite video (PAL/NTSC) output

• Stereo audio output

• 10/100 BaseT RJ45 Ethernet socket (Model B+)

• HDMI 1.3 & 1.4 video/audio socket

• 3.5mm 4-pole audio/composite video out jack socket

• 1 x USB 2.0 socket (Model A+)

• 15-way MPI CSI-2 connector for Raspberry Pi HD video camera (775-7731)

• 15-way Display Serial Interface connector

• MicroSD card socket

If we take a close look at the specs, we would figure out how the A+ is just the copy of the B+ except for the RAM and the size. The A+ has 256MB compared to the 512MB on the B+. You won’t find the Pi’s credit-card looks on the A+ which has ditched the contemporary look for a squatter and flatter 66 x 56 x 14mm. The size has been reduced as a result of the adoption of the Micro SD cards for the boot drive and also the inclusion of just one USB slot.

The model A owners and lovers don’t have to be so disappointed because it simply hasn’t ended with the arrival of the A+ model. Pi founder Eben Upton says “The big news is that we’ve cut the price to $20 from $25 for the old Model A.”

“When we announced Raspberry Pi back in 2011, the idea of producing an ‘ARM GNU/Linux box for $25’ seemed ambitious,” he writes, “so it’s pretty mind-bending to be able to knock another $5 off the cost while continuing to build it here in the UK, at the same Sony factory in South Wales we use to manufacture the Model B+.”

source: raspberrypi