Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+

It comes with a 1.4GHz ARMv8 quad-core processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet (max 300 Mbps), USB 2.0 and HDMI.

The new Pi 3 Model A+ is supposed to be a smaller model but with most of the advantages of the Model B+. It has similar specifications, except that you get 512MB of RAM instead of 1GB, there’s only one USB 2.0 port and the Ethernet port is gone.

But that’s about it. If you don’t need a ton of RAM or Ethernet, it’s a surprisingly decent mini-computer. Even if you played with a Raspberry Pi in the past, recent models have come a long way. The processor is now powerful enough to run demanding tasks.

Sure, it’ll take longer to transcode a video, unzip a large file or launch an emulated game on a Raspberry Pi than on a laptop. But if you want a fanless computer that runs 24/7, it’s hard to find something cheaper. Docker works pretty well on it, which makes it even easier to maintain if you’re into containers.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ Features

• Expanded 40-pin GPIO Header
• Video/Audio Out via 4-pole 3.5mm connector, HDMI, CSI camera, or Raw LCD (DSI)
• Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 (maximum throughput 300 Mbps)
• Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support (requires separate PoE HAT)
• 2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE
• Low-Level Peripherals:
  • 27 x GPIO
  • UART
  • I2C bus
  • SPI bus with two chip selects
  • +3.3V
  • +5V
  • Ground
• Supports Raspbian, Windows 10 IoT Core, OpenELEC, OSMC, Pidora, Arch Linux, RISC OS and More!

Specifications

• SoC: Broadcom BCM2837B0 quad-core A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit @ 1.4GHz
• GPU: Broadcom Videocore-IV
• RAM: 512MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• Networking: 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.2, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
• Storage: MicroSD
• GPIO: 40-pin GPIO header, populated
• Ports: HDMI, 3.5mm analogue audio-video jack, 1x USB 2.0, Camera Serial Interface (CSI), Display Serial Interface (DSI)
• Dimensions: 67mm x 56mm x 11.5mm, 29g

Where it is scaled down is:

• Size: it has the smaller HAT form, identical to the original Pi A+
• Memory: 512MB, half of what the Pi 3 Model B+ has
• Networking: No wired ethernet connection
• USB: Only one USB port, and no on-board USB hub

Software installation

Beginners should start with the NOOBS (New Out Of Box Software) operating system installation manager, which gives the user a choice of operating system from the standard distributions.

SD cards with NOOBS pre-installed should be available from any of our global distributors and resellers.

Alternatively, you can download NOOBS.

Raspbian is the recommended operating system for normal use on a Raspberry Pi.

You can browse basic examples to help you get started with some of the software available in Raspbian, find more detail about the Raspbian operating system, or read information on fundamental Linux usage and commands for navigating the Raspberry Pi and managing its file system and users.