If there’s any single word to describe the Raspberry Pi series of microcomputers, it is Versatile. The Raspberry Pi powers smart robots that can flip your omelets perfectly, and manage your home’s smart lighting setup. It can help tech-enthusiasts build the machine of their dreams or power remote stand-alone computers. And with over 5 million units of the Pi 3 sold alone, it is definitely one of the most popular electronics brands right now. This popular lineup of micro-computers recently launched their newest successor Raspberry Pi 4, and we’re happy to say that it is definitely worthy of succeeding its previous models.
The Raspberry Pi 4 has a faster processor than the Pi3, for starters, and comes with RAM options at 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB. This beast of a device sports a 1.5-GHz Quad-Core Broadcom processor, modern DDR4 RAM and an improved 500 MHz VideoCore VI GPU. This alone makes it faster and more functional than the previous models.
The Pi4 comes with two USB 3 ports, two USB 2.0 ones and dual micro HDMI ports. This means that this little devil can power dual 4k monitors at the same time, although the refresh rates aren’t the best for this setting. Furthermore, it embodies a faster SD card slot, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 5.0. There is also an integrated WiFi adapter that supports dual-band 2.4Ghz and 5GHz 802.11ac.
All this awesomeness does come at a price though. The Raspberry Pi 4 heats up a lot, with an idling temperature of around 60 degrees. However, with extensive use, this does heat up more. So, to prevent damage to the processors, the thermometer icon on the display flashes and the CPU automatically throttles down from to 1GHz once it hits the 80-degree mark. However, this processing power soon goes once the core is cooled properly.
The million dollar question (or rather $35/$45/$55 question)
Should you buy it? Is this right for you? In short, yes it is. If you’re new to micro-computers and you’re deciding which model of the Pi to buy, you should definitely go with the Pi 4. Its faster than all its predecessors and comes with a wider variety of RAM options. Currently, the pricing for the 1GB, 2GB and 4GB RAM varients are $35, $45 and $55 respectively. So, you can be sure to pick the best variant to suit your needs. Overall, Pi 4 comes with many significant improvements over its highly successful previous model. If we have anything to recommend, you should definitely pack a cooling fan and a case for it since it does heat up quite a lot, and for portability purposes.
