April 29, 2024

New Raspberry Pi 3 With Integrated 802.11n Wireless LAN on Sale Now for $35

Posted February 29, 2016 at 3:43pm by iClarified · 15899 views
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the release of the Raspberry Pi 3, the latest version of the tiny computer that fits in your pocket.

Exactly four years ago, on 29 February 2012, we unleashed the original 256MB Raspberry Pi Model B on a largely unsuspecting world. Since then, we’ve shipped over eight million units, including three million units of Raspberry Pi 2, making us the UK’s all-time best-selling computer. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has grown from a handful of volunteers to have over sixty full-time employees, including our new friends from Code Club. We’ve sent a Raspberry Pi to the International Space Station and are training teachers around the world through our Picademy program. In celebration of our fourth birthday, we thought it would be fun to release something new.

Accordingly, Raspberry Pi 3 is now on sale for $35 (the same price as the existing Raspberry Pi 2), featuring:
● A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU (~10x the performance of Raspberry Pi 1)
● Integrated 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1
● Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1 and 2

The Raspberry Pi 3 uses Broadcom's BCM2837 SoC. It has the same basic architecture as its predecessors so all the projects and tutorials for previous devices will continue to work. The new 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 chip provides a 33% increase in clock speed and a 50-60% increase in 32-bit performance compared to the Raspberry Pi 2. That makes the Raspberry Pi 3 about 10x faster than the original

The Broadcom BCM43438 wireless 'combo' chip took the second half of 2015 to incorporate into the same form-factor as the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. The only change is the position of the LEDs, which moved to the other side of the SD card socket to make room for the antenna.

The board can still be run from a 5V micro-USB power adapter but a 2.5A adapter is recommended if you're connecting power-hungry USB devices.

You can purchase the Raspberry Pi 3 today from element14 and RS Components, and other resellers.

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