Featured in this episode of Tech News of the Week
In the world of tiny, tiny, cheap computers, the name that nearly everyone- even non-IT people- know, is Raspberry Pi. They were the first in this market, but as usually happens, that monopoly didn’t last. There are a ton of competitors out there now, and the Pi itself has struggled to compete.
The 4 in particular didn’t exactly impress compared to the market, but the 5 appears to have made a significant step forward. The device now sports compatibility for PCIe devices via an expansion port, CPU/CPU performance that nearly doubles its predecessor, and an elegant and cheap case design that allows for a $5 cooling unit as well as stacking.
The downside here is that in order to maintain peak performance with the 5, that cooling unit is basically a requirement- and the redesign will also make all older cases non-compatible. PoE still requires another add-on, but let’s be honest. Y’all are just plugging this thing into the wall anyway. So, pros and cons, but still pretty cool for a totally functional computer that starts at the low, low price of $60 for the 4gb model. The 8gb, which again let’s be honest is the one you’ll buy, is $80.