Raspberry Pi 2 Unleashed Unexpectedly Upon Us

Raspberry Pi fans were not expecting the successor to the popular Raspberry Pi until around 2017, but in a shock announcement, it turns out that  Raspberry Pi 2 will go on sale today (2nd Feb 2015).

For a measly $35 (or £23.25) you can purchase the new and improved bigger brother to the original Pi, but just like any sibling rivalry the Raspberry Pi 2 will have some big boots to fill As the original Raspberry Pi has sold over 1 million units since its release. However, the Raspberry Pi 2 sure does fill those shoes, and some! Now sporting a 900MHz quad-core processing chip and fully loaded with 1GB of Random Access Memory (RAM), the Pi 2 is literally bursting at the crust!

Eben Upton, the Raspberry Pi Foundation lead has told The Register that this new model is actually a “usable PC”. Whereas with the old one, you did have to be a bit forgiving with it performance wise. The new Pi will also be able to access the Official Raspberry Pi App Store.

While the new Raspberry may look the same to the non-discerning viewer, those who know the Pi inside-out may well notice the tweaks and upgrades that make it capable of running the upgraded processor and extra RAM.

As before, the Pi 2’s success will largely rely on the community to develop. It will be very interesting to see what gizmos and gadgets the world’s quirkiest minds come up with, now that they’re playing with bigger specs.

See Also: Raspberry Pi A+ is the smallest yet

As an added bonus, the Raspberry Pi 2 will also be Windows 10 compatible and will come with a Free of Charge upgrade when Microsoft’s OS gets released alter in the year. Eben Upton stated that:

“For the last six months we’ve been working closely with Microsoft to bring the forthcoming Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi 2. Microsoft will have much more to share over the coming months. The Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers.”

The Raspberry PI 2 can be picked from Raspberry Pi’s partners element14 and RS Components from today.

Youc an also see the Raspberry Pi Camera Module here.


Comments

One response to “Raspberry Pi 2 Unleashed Unexpectedly Upon Us”

  1. Anna Jessup avatar
    Anna Jessup

    I found this article very well written and information. Whoever wrote this should get a pay rise.