Raspberry Pi Unveils Model B+

[Blackwell Stith]

Raspberry Pi Unveils Model B+

The new model arrives two years after the Model B and boasts a slew of new features.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has revealed B+ as the newest addition to their line of mini computers. The Model B+ is available starting today at $35- the same price as its predecessor, the Model B. You can order the new board online via the Raspberry Pi Foundation's two primary manufacturing partners (RS Components [http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi]).

In a blog post, the Foundation stated that the new model is not a "Raspberry Pi v2", but instead a final revision to the original Pi board that features the same 512 megabytes of RAM and Broadcom BCM2835 SoC as the Model B.

On the topic of new features, the B+ now comes with 40 pins on the GPIO header, which keeps the same pinout mapping for the first 26 pins as the model B. The number of USB 2.0 ports has been increased from two to four, which allows for more flexibility by eliminating the occupation of a port in order to use a mouse, keyboard, Wi-Fi dongle, or USB thumb drive. The standard SD card expansion has been replaced with a microSD slot and has a push to release mechanism built in. Concerning energy, the Foundation was able to reduce power consumption of the new model, and the audio circuit now has its own "low-noise" power supply. Finally, the Model B+ has a new form factor and component layout that includes rounded corners.

To appease fans of the regular Model B, the Raspberry Pi Foundation assured that the older board will stay in production as long as there is demand for the outdated model. It is unknown whether or not the Model B will get a reduced price- but as of yet, it is still being sold at the same price.

Plan on purchasing the new and improved B+? Let us know in the comments!

Source: PC World [http://www.pcworld.com/article/2453391/new-raspberry-pi-model-b-doubles-up-on-usb-ports-adds-microsd-and-more.html]

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[alj]

Switching back to micro SD and the USB not sticking out of the end is a huge plus for me, i did not understand why they switched to full sized SD for the production boards.

the layout is far better as it only uses 2 sides for the connectors and this is going to make my plan to fit a pi inside a keyboard much simpler, i know it has been done with the original but i did not want to mess around with it so much, I had already removed my composite and headphone jack form my original model b as i simply did not use them and they just got in the way.

It also looks as if they have switched the cap on the 5v power rail to a smaller smd cap rather than the SMD radial that's a good move as that thing is just asking to get knocked off on the old one.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Yoink! I was just going to buy another of these anyway because I had the older model with less RAM and no mounting holes.

 

[insanelich]

It is finally a Raspberry Pi that won't randomly fail when you plug in an USB device needing not-zero amounts of power.

Unfortunately, it's not directly compatible with old cards or cases, so I'll keep my old one. The problem's easily fixed with a powered USB hub anyway.

 

[Fasckira]

I want a Pi, I just cant think of what to do with one. A vaguely toyed with using it to set up a remote webcam post in my garden to see the foxes and chavs at night but beyond that I have enough bits of old kit lying around still to do random things with at the moment.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Oooh, this is interesting indeed. I was after buying two Model Bs this week in fact. They make great media centre's running Raspbmc for less than £40 with HDMI, 5.1 surround sound and the rest. I think it's cool that it's introduced at the same price though seeing as the hardware spec itself (ie. the performance) is no different than the B it wouldn't make much difference for my purposes. I'll pick one up anyway since more USB ports are always better and the MicroSD sounds like a nice move (I just hope it doesn't extend out of the side like the normal SD card does).

I wonder if/when there'll be an actual new model released, hopefully with higher specs for the same price (as the performance of processors continues to rise, new, smaller, die processes, memory becomes cheaper, etc) or even same spec for lower price and/or smaller size. At the same time, for its intended purpose, it's already just fine as it is.

PS. Is that the MicroSD in the lower left corner of the photo (and HDMI to the right?)?

 

[Dandres]

Dang, I just got a model B a few months ago. I will probably get this in the next year or two or is support runs out on mine.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I want one, but I have no idea what I'd do with it... I know people do stuff like media centers, camera set-ups, but I'm not 100% sure how much I need that sort of thing. But man, it's so tempting