The Raspberry Pi 5 hit the market in September 2023, and unlike previous versions, the initial offering was limited to 4GB and 8GB models. From the start, this put a lot of pressure on its price, and with an average of 75 euros for the 4GB edition, it hasn't been as popular as expected. What is the Raspberry Pi Foundation's response? To launch a 2GB variant with optimized silicon and a lower cost…
Faced with a lack of affordable options, DIY enthusiasts don't hesitate to adjust their strategies, and that's what happened after the launch of the Raspberry Pi 5. Initial prices were $60 (4GB) and $80 (8GB), but today it's very hard to find the RPi5 8GB for under $90, or €105 (!) in European stores. With that budget, users are buying used Dell, Lenovo, and/or HP Mini PCs that can handle all the tasks of the Raspberry Pi 5 and have plenty of performance to spare.
Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB RAM, for $50
Fortunately, the Raspberry Pi Foundation seems to have picked up the gauntlet, and even though the Raspberry Pi 5 is "150 times faster" than the original model (official expression, not mine), it clearly needs some help. That help comes in the form of a new version with two important changes. The first is the D0 stepping of the BCM2712 chip, which eliminates much of what's called "dark silicon"—space on the wafer that isn't used by the mini computer. The second is a classic trick: cutting the memory of the most affordable model in half
Needless to say, many applications will feel the impact of working with 2GB of RAM, but not all users need 4 or 8 gigabytes for their projects. The result of this new configuration (optimization + cut) is a $10 price reduction. The Raspberry Pi 5 with 2GB RAM should hit stores with a $50 price tag.
Official announcement: Click here
