Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

This has since been upgraded to the new 14 March 2018 model, Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+

Imagine the project you've always dreamed about. Now beef it up with an incredible amount of processing power, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, plus enough extra ports to connect sensors, cameras, HDMI displays, motors, anything else you can imagine! Now put all of that in a computer the size of a credit card running powerful, easy to use, Linux and Windows tools (all free), and you've got yourself a Raspberry Pi 3.

That's right, the Raspberry Pi 3 is here, and it's truly amazing. To dive into Raspberry Pi from a beginner's point of view take a look at our free online workshop!

Or, window shop a few of the awesome community projects created with Raspberry Pi!

Features:

• Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARM Cortex-A53 Quad Core Processor SoC running at 1.2GHz
• 1GB RAM
• 4 x USB 2.0 Ports with up to 1.2A output using the Official RPi Power Supply
• Expanded 40-pin GPIO Header (Pinout Here)
• Video/Audio Out via either the 4-pole 3.5mm connector, HDMI, CSI camera, or Raw LCD (DSI)
• Storage: microSD Card (Class 10 or Higher Recommended)
• 10/100M Ethernet Available (RJ45)
• BCM43143 WiFi on board (802.11 a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) on board
• Low-Level Peripherals:
  • 27 x GPIO
  • UART
  • I2C bus
  • SPI bus with two chip selects
  • +3.3V
  • +5V
  • Ground
• Power Requirements: 5V @ 2.4 A via microUSB power source
• Supports Raspbian, Windows 10 IoT Core, OpenELEC, OSMC, Pidora, Arch Linux, RISC OS and More!
• Board Dimensions - 85mm x 56mm x 17mm

There's a reason why makers, hacksters, DIY'ers, educators, parents, students, and everyone else loves Raspberry Pi. Powering it all is the Broadcom BCM2837 wonder chip which features an ARM Cortex-A53 64bit Quad Core processor clocking in at 2.1GHz. This System-On-Chip offers a GPU which offers Open GL ES 2.0 plus 1080p30 H.264 video support and can leverage 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPS of computer power. When you compare this kind of performance to the previous model, the Pi 3 is a huge upgrade showing benefits across the board.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has juiced up the power distribution on the board to allow for the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE power usage, and also to provide power for USB devices. The recommended power supply is now 2.5 Amps via the micro USB port, and between the four USB ports you can draw up to 1.2 Amps! That's huge, although, for high power devices, a powered USB hub is still recommended to help handle the load.

The Raspberry Pi isn't just the tiny desktop computer though, it's also the perfect device for tinkerers and inventors alike! It features 27 General Purpose In Out (GPIO) pins which breakout UART, I2C, SPI, digital I/O and access to 3.3V and 5V voltage sources. The Pi Foundation have made the GPIO layout and form factor identical to the previous Pi 2 Model B+ which means most HATs and GPIO extensions should work.

To get your Pi up and running you'll need:

• Power Supply 5v 2.5Amp
• Official Raspberry Pi 3 Case
• 16GB MicroSD Card with NOOBS

And to control your Pi and see what's going on you'll also need:

• HDMI Cable 1M
• Minature Keyboard with Touchpad Mouse

Documentation

• Compliance