Brand
Small computers and the Pico boards
The Pi 5 is the current flagship, with a 2.4 GHz Cortex-A76 CPU. The Pi 4 remains useful for existing projects. The Pico 2 W brings Wi-Fi to a very cheap board.
On Amazon.com, bare boards are sold by resellers. When we read the listings, an 8 GB Pi 5 cost about $200. Compare with a complete kit.
A bare board needs a power supply, cooling and a card.
Single-board computer · BCM2711 Cortex-A72, 1.5 GHz · 2 GB · dual-band Wi-Fi · Bluetooth 5.0 · Gigabit Ethernet
The 2 GB Raspberry Pi 4, with a 1.5 GHz BCM2711, dual-band Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet, enough for simple controllers such as OctoPrint.
Best for: A maker running a print server or simple controller.
≈ $100
Single-board computer · Cortex-A72, 1.5 GHz · 8 GB · USB 3.0 · Gigabit Ethernet · 4Kp60 · USB-C power
The Raspberry Pi 4 with 8 GB of RAM, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet and 4Kp60 video, at a price close to the faster Pi 5 from a reseller.
Best for: A user with a Pi 4 project already designed.
≈ $165
Single-board computer · 2.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A76 · 4 GB · VideoCore VII · M.2 connector · 2 × USB 3.0
The Raspberry Pi 5 with 4 GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A76 CPU, VideoCore VII graphics and an M.2 connector.
Best for: A maker building a server or print controller.
≈ $127
Single-board computer · 2.4 GHz quad-core Cortex-A76 · 8 GB · dual 4K micro HDMI · Wi-Fi, Ethernet
The 8 GB Raspberry Pi 5, with dual 4K micro HDMI, sold at about $200 by a third party at our reading, well above the 4 GB model.
Best for: A user running heavy apps or several services.
≈ $200
Board · Cortex-M33 or RISC-V at 150 MHz · 520 KB SRAM · 4 MB flash · Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2 · 26 GPIO · 12 PIO
The wireless Pico with a dual Cortex-M33 or RISC-V core at 150 MHz, 520 KB SRAM, 4 MB flash, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.2.
Best for: A maker who wants PIO and wireless.
≈ $17
A price quoted in the text of a MakerVerdict page dates from the day that page was written; the live figure beside each product is fetched while you read and replaces it.
