How a lot RAM do you want? It’s a standard query, however one which doesn’t at all times have an easy reply. The Raspberry Pi, an affordable all-in-one system-on-a-chip for hobbyists, usually makes do with much less RAM than typical PCs, however a brand new 16GB model of the Pi 5 has come to provide it a critical reminiscence improve.
The Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of onboard DDR4 RAM is $120, greater than double the worth of the bottom 2GB mannequin. (It’s additionally out there within the authentic 4GB configuration for $60 and 8GB for $80.) However although that will sound dear for a Raspberry Pi with no additional {hardware}, it’s cheap contemplating the elements. If we assume a $20 soar for each 4GB of reminiscence, it strains proper up. The brand new 16GB model is on sale proper now at PiShop.us and different distributors.
However 16 gigs is a lot for a Raspberry Pi, greater than some other present mannequin produced to this point — and at $120, it now sits inside hanging distance of at the least some mini PC fashions, which, not like the Pi, include storage and an working system out of the field.
So, what’s the reasoning behind the improve? In line with Raspberry Pi CEO Ebon Upton, it’s to make room within the reminiscence for “heavyweight distributions like Ubuntu” and extra demanding purposes comparable to computational fluid dynamics and (sigh) massive language AI fashions. Micron was in a position to provide the Raspberry Pi firm with the mandatory elements, and right here we’re.
It’s price declaring that it’s very doable to run an Arm-based model of Home windows on a Raspberry Pi, even the moderately heavy Home windows 11 — and should you’re going to try this, my private take is that 16GB needs to be the minimal for the most recent variations of the OS. That makes the brand new 16GB model of the Pi a straightforward choose should you’re attempting to construct a Home windows PC that’s as tiny and environment friendly as doable on a finances.
