Raspberry Pi 4 Now Has 8GB RAM
May 28, 2020The Raspberry Pi, a credit card sized single board computer has opened a world of innovation to tinkerers and DIYers alike. The fourth iteration of the Pi with its more sophisticated processor and memory have edged it within striking distance PCs. Now, with the latest addition to the family, the gap between the two has become ever smaller.
Previously, the Pi came with either 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of RAM. But the Pi Foundation has now seen it fit to add an 8GB variant to the mix. In February, probably in anticipation of the new variant, they reduced the price of the 2GB model from $45 to $35. The one with 4GB still costs $55, while the 8GB model costs $75 – such is the price of progress.
Photo Credit: Raspberry Pi Blog
So, what has changed? Not much, it has the same BCM2711 Broadcom chip. This isn’t surprising considering that said processor has a ceiling limit of 16GB of LPDDR4 SDRAM. The main hurdle was the 8GB LPDDR4 package, it simply didn’t exist in 2019. But its supplier, Micron, stepped up to the plate and delivered a suitable part this year.
Other changes were also made to compensate for the slightly higher peak currents. According to the Pi team, “James has shuffled the power supply components on the board, removing a switch-mode power supply from the right-hand side of the board next to the USB 2.0 sockets and adding a new switcher next to the USB-C power connnector.”
Photo Credit: Raspberry Pi Blog
Officially the Pi operating system, now called Raspberry Pi OS, runs on a 32-bit userland, in order to support older Pi boards. But the company has released an early beta version of its own 64-bit operating system image. It contains the same set of applications and desktop environment as the 32-bit image, but is built against the Debian arm64 port.
