You can thank the quad-core Broadcom ARM CPU for that

Feb 2, 2015 16:04 GMT  ·  By

Raspberry Pi was originally meant as a small, credit card-sized PC that students could use at school to learn device programming and engineering.

But it ended up becoming very, very popular almost immediately after its first release, back in December 2011, due to pretty much every news agency emphasizing how it could turn any TV into a smart TV.

The Pi has turned very few TVs into Smart TVs since then, but its popularity is ever on the rise due to how many gadgets and projects it is used in.

Seeing all that, it is little wonder that the Raspberry Pi foundation is upgrading it again.

However, this time it's more than a small refinement or form factor optimization. Performance has literally spiked this time, going from a single-core 700 MHz CPU to the quad-core, 900 MHz Broadcom BCM2836 ARMv7.

The memory capacity has been increased as well, from 512 MB to (incidentally faster too) 1 GB RAM.

All the while, the Pi remains backwards compatible with older devices thanks to the 40-pin GPIO header.

1080p HDMI-out capability is, of course, present, but the number of external USB ports has gone from one to four. Kind of impressive that everything fit so well on the same, small form factor.

Check it out post haste. The new Raspberry Pi 2 wasn't supposed to be upgraded until 2017 after all.

Raspberry Pi 2, rear view
Raspberry Pi 2, rear view

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Raspberry Pi 2
Raspberry Pi 2, rear view
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