After 2 years since the launch of the Raspberry Pi Model B, the affordable and fun computer is back with another new model: Model B+. For the same price as the previous model at US$35, is it worth the upgrade from your existing Model B?The processor on the new B+ is still the same (700MHz Broadcom processor) with the same amount of RAM (512MB). What has really changed is the addition of 14 more GPIO pins, making up a total of 40 GPIO pins on the board. They have re-invented the power supply on the Pi to be much more energy efficient, saving up to 0.5 to 1 W of energy. They included 2 more USB 2.0 ports to a total of 4 USB ports on the Pi which is definitely a plus for users who wants to connect more devices to their Pi. Traditionally, users need to purchase their own external powered USB hubs to connect their peripherals and thus making their setup messy with dangling cables. Finally the noticeable change is to the onboard storage card re-design. In the past, the Raspberry Pi will only work with SD cards or Micro-SD cards with an adapter for its main storage, resulting in the extended area of the Pi due to the exposed area of the SD card. With the adoption of Micro-SD card slots, the Pi is able to have its own main storage card sit within the structure of the Pi, with no exposed area of the storage card.
The changes this time round focus more on the design rather than the hardware specs of the computer, thus I don't really see a need to upgrade from my existing Model B. But the new Model B+ is definitely worth getting for users who have yet to try out the Raspberry Pi.
Want to learn how to get started with Programming on the Raspberry Pi? Click on the Course Brochure from Learn2Develop.net for more information on the upcoming Raspberry Pi course in Singapore! You will also get to bring home your very own Raspberry Pi Model B+, Official Raspberry Pi Micro-USB charger and Sandisk 8GB Micro-SD card with SD Adapter!
Course Brochure (8 Sep 2014)
Feeling interested to get your very own Raspberry Pi B+? Use the link down below!
