The Pi Foundation Celebrates 5 Years With a New Pi Zero W, a $5 Board With Wi-Fi & Bluetooth


As the Raspberry Pi found itself celebrating its 5th birthday, it’s so hard to believe the mini motherboards have only been around for that long. In that amount of time, we have seen the Pi Foundation come up with ample technological advancements for its Pi, altering its capabilities, and most definitely seeing the Pi world through the eyes of countless makers and DIY-ers, who have repurposed these mini-computers into clever inventions. Since the first $35 computer launch in 2012, the Pi Foundation has only continued to add more and more members to its family of low-cost computers. In honoring the occasion of five years running as the world’s most famous tiny board computer, the Foundation announced its Raspberry Pi Zero W - “W” standing for what is new, wireless connectivity.

Endless opportunities continue to arise from these mini computers, and now one incredibly helpful upgrade should make Pi tinkerers everywhere happier. Always a fantastic start to a full-set computer in the making, the new Pi should make an even greater general-purpose computer- since from the start, it won’t need a hub. We all loved the amazing $5 2015 Pi Zero (the cheapest Pi family member to date) and the cool inventions associated with it (tiny arcade machines, electric skateboards, etc), but because the Pi Zero board wasn’t wireless, projects ended up costing a bit more than the Zero itself (since adding a dongle became a requirement).

Other than the very exciting new addition of Wi-Fi, specs remain exactly the same as the Pi Zero, like the 1GHz single-core Broadcom BCM2835 CPU, the 512 MB of RAM, and 40-pin header. Nestling between the original Pi and its flagship 64-bit/ Wi-Fi enabled Pi 3 from last year, any project ideas you had in mind previously, go ahead and bring back with your new Pi. Bring them to life with the additional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of the Pi Zero W, which will eliminate the worry of having a low-cost idea stay low-cost. Not surprisingly, the price tag of a Wi-Fi Pi is still really affordable. Just $5 more than its predecessor, or $10, you can have your own fun creating a ton of value out of a little money. One great thing about Raspberry Pis of all models is that there’s something out there for everyone.

Topics: Technology News Mini / Nano PCs Raspberry Pi

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