The new Raspberry Pi 4 is one of the most significant steps up in its short history. We'll give you the skinny on it, and tell you about some of over a dozen new Raspberry Pi 4 products in our shop today!
All Mod Cons!
Pi 4 is dramatically faster all-round, with a new 1.5GHz, 64-bit, quad-core, ARM Cortex-A72 CPU driving 2x faster performance, up to 4GB LPDDR4 RAM, Videocore VI enabling 4K video and dual displays, gigabit ethernet, USB 3.0, and more! It's now USB-C powered too, drawing up to 3A at 5V.
The new ARM Cortex-A72, increased RAM, and 2x faster micro-SD performance, really open up what you can do with the Raspberry Pi. Add in the significantly faster IO—gigabit ethernet and USB 3.0—and the Pi becomes a very capable mini server, NAS, or media centre.
The step up to Videocore VI means that you can now output 4K video at 60 frames per second, or dual 4K at 24 frames per second through the Pi 4's two micro-HDMI ports. Ideal for media centre builds.
True gigabit ethernet, uncoupled from the USB as it was in previous generations, gives 3-4x faster wired networking, while the Pi 4's two USB 3.0 ports (there's also two USB 2.0 ports) are around 10x as fast as the Pi 3 B+'s USB 2.0. Plug in an SSD and a network cable and BOOM! you've got a super-speedy NAS!
Click here to see Raspberry Pi 4.
(Thanks to Gareth Halfacree for an early-look at his superb blog post benchmarking the new Pi 4, to get some of the numbers above. It really is worth a read, so do check it out!)
Fan SHIM, The Coolest Pi 4 Accessory!
The new Pi 4 can run pretty hot, depending on what you're doing. CPU throttling will kick in at just over 80°C, limiting the speed at which you can do stuff, until the temperature drops back down.
Our new Fan SHIM is a no-solder, 30mm CPU fan, with RGB LED and tactile switch. It just slots down onto the GPIO pins of your Pi, using our nifty friction-fit header and draws power from the Pi. The RGB LED is great for visual feedback to show when the fan is active (it's so quiet you probably won't notice it's on). The tactile switch can be programmed to toggle the fan on and off.
In our testing, we've seen Fan SHIM drop the CPU temperature by up to 25°C when the Pi is running at full-tilt. That's pretty significant cooling, meaning that your Pi 4 will never throttle the CPU speed in most situations.
New Pibow Coupé 4 Cases and More!
As always, we've updated our Pibow cases—the original Raspberry Pi case—to fit the new Raspberry Pi 4. Our new Pibow Coupé 4 case is designed specially (indeed only) for Raspberry Pi 4, and it comes in three colourways including an all-new rainbow colour.
Made from five layers of laser-cut acrylic, Pibow Coupé leaves all of the ports accessible and it has a generous cutout in the top layer for one of our new larger, low-profile heatsinks, or a Fan SHIM!
We've got new worldwide USB-C power supplies that'll supply your Pi 4 with an ample 3A at 5V, a new larger 32GB micro-SD card pre-loaded with NOOBS, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI adaptor to use standard HDMI cables with your Pi 4.
If you're a beginner, then our Raspberry Pi 4 Starter Kit is the very best way to get started. It's got everything you'll need except a display: Pi 4, Pibow Coupé 4 case, micro-SD card, HDMI cable, USB-C power supply, keyboard, mouse, and even some stickers!
Click here to see all our new Pi 4 kit.
Picade is Now Pi 4-Compatible!
Last up... Picade is now compatible with Raspberry Pi 4!
We've updated our Picade X HAT with USB-C power, so you can use a 3A/5V power supply with your Picade and Pi 4, and give it plenty of power.
If you buy a Picade from today, then it'll ship with a Picade X HAT with USB-C, and a micro-HDMI adaptor. If you've already got a Picade, then you can buy one of the new Picade X HATs and a Raspberry Pi 4 and away you go (and don't forget a micro-HDMI adaptor and USB-C power supply!