In 2016 Eben Upton, the co-creator of the multi-million selling $35 Raspberry Pi, said there was little more power that could be wrung from the tiny computer without a major overhaul.
It turns out there was more untapped potential in the board than first thought, as today saw the release of the most powerful Pi yet, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.
Upton describes the board as kind of a Raspberry Pi 3.5, not a generational leap over the 2016’s Pi 3 but a step up that delivers a decent boost to performance and Wi-Fi speeds.
“It’s not a Raspberry Pi 4. I think what we’ve ended up with is something which is a really good B+, a bit too good for a B+, but that would be not really anywhere near enough for a Raspberry Pi 4,” said Upton.
“The B+ is our attention-to-detail spin for the product, where we take all the stuff we’ve learned in the past couple of years and smoosh it all together and make a new thing that addresses some of the concerns or takes advantage of some of the opportunities that have come along in the intervening time.”
The B+ will be of particular interest to enthusiasts pushing the existing Pi 3 to its limits, says Upton, giving them the overhead to try out new things with the Raspberry Pi.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Events, Projects, and much more! #Python #Adafruit #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF
Adafruit IoT Monthly — No-Code IoT with WipperSnapper, Beaming Internet across the Congo, and more!
Hi does the pi 3 B+ has a built in POE?
Thank you
Bo
The Pi3B+ provides PoE capability via a separate PoE HAT.