Raspberry Pi 4 Now Available With 8GB of RAM, 64-Bit OS
For years, the Raspberry Pi has been the premier single-board computer for hobbyists. These devices cost as little as $5 and include all the core components of a computer, but there are also more powerful versions. The latest Raspberry Pi 4 has a . Combined with its quad-core ARM chip and ample I/O options, the latest Raspberry Pi 4 can take on even more tasks that would have required a PC in the past. It even has a new 64-bit OS to leverage all that RAM.
The launched last year in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB RAM configurations. The rest of the hardware was a solid improvement over past versions with a pair of HDMI outputs, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and a quad-core Cortex-A72 ARM chip clocked at 1.5GHz.
There was no 8GB RAM option at launch because there was no 8GB LPDDR4 chip compatible with the circuit board. It took a little work to accommodate the additional RAM on the Raspberry Pi 4. Designers had to remove the old switch-mode power supply from the right side of the board (near the USB-A ports), adding a higher capacity switcher next to the USB-C port on the left.
The official Raspberry Pi Linux build also needed some work. Until now, Debian-based Raspbian OS only came in 32-bit. 32-bit systems can only address about 4GB of RAM, so the 8GB module would go to waste. There are third-party operating systems that will see all that RAM, but the official Raspbian is now available as a 64-bit image. The Raspberry Pi foundation notes this is still an “early beta,” though.
The 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 is at various retailers for $75, which is $20 more than the 4GB edition. That extra RAM could be a real boon to several popular Raspberry Pi projects. For example, a media server like Plex or Kodi should be more responsive on the new 8GB version. The same goes for running a Minecraft server, which is bundled with Raspbian. The Raspberry Pi is all about creativity, and you can get more creative with 8GB of RAM than 4GB.
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