RPi gets an upgrade!
The latest iteration of the Raspberry Pi is the model '4 Model B'. This model comes in 3 different sizes according to RAM (2, 4, and 8 GB respectively). It also comes with a whole host of additional upgrades to many of the systems components which I will go over below.
CPU
In addition to the RAM upgrade, the processor has also received a little boost. It now sports a Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz.
RAM
Depending on your needs, the Raspberry Pi 4 comes with 3 different variants available — 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM!
I picked up the 8GB version, and I can very easily notice the difference compared to my Model 3B+. I highly recommend the extra RAM. Especially if you want to use the Pi's desktop or GUI interfaces.
The speed and performance of the new Raspberry Pi 4 is a step up from earlier models. For the first time, we've built a complete desktop experience. Whether you're editing documents, browsing the web with a bunch of tabs open, juggling spreadsheets or drafting a presentation, you'll find the experience smooth and very recognizable — but on a smaller, more energy-efficient and much more cost-effective machine.
USB 3
The new Raspberry Pi 4 has upgraded USB capacity as well. Along with two USB 2 ports you'll find two USB 3 ports, which can transfer data up to ten times faster!
Dual displays (4K output)
With Raspberry Pi 4, you can run two monitors at once — and in 4K, too! I personally have not tried this yet, however I have run it at 1080p and it was pretty snappy! I'm very impressed with this little computer.
Aside from the performance upgrades, not much else has changed. So, you can simply drop your new Raspberry Pi into your old projects for an upgrade. All the RPi software is backwards-compatible also. So what you create on a Raspberry Pi 4 will work on any older models you own too.
My first boot of the new RPi was using the memory card from my older one. It booted up perfectly. No compatibility issues at all.
My thoughts
This is a great little machine. If you're into tinkering, programming, or tech and computers in general, I highly recommend adding some Raspberry Pi's to your tech/gadget collection. There are so many cool little things you can do with them.
In the past I've used one as a little home media server. I've also used them as a crypto staking node.
Now that I have 3, I want to take on some kind of networking project. I was thinking of building some kind of small blockchain and using the RPi's as nodes for it. I figure that could be a fun and cool learning experience, right?
Besides tinkering, the new RPi 4 Model B can honestly hold it's own as a desktop computer. I may get some flak for this, but it can.
Of course, it can't do anything too crazy. But, for browsing the web, watching some YouTube videos, word processing, light coding, etc. it works perfectly fine. If someone were needing that capability with a super low budget, a Pi would be the way to go!
As I stated previously, I think this model is a big step up from the last in terms of performance. Which has me interested in what they will do next. I'm interested in the whole ARM processing industry at this point too. Very interesting stuff.