7 ms·

Buy a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

95 points by benn_88 7y ago

porker 7y ago
Link to release blog entry: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-4-on-sale-now-from-35/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-4-on-sale-now-... (submitted as: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863)
sschueller 7y ago
Interesting differences to the pi 3 io is the dual hdmi out. I don't use the hdmi out very much on any of my pis so I find this interesting. Are people using these as workstations? Even with stripped down Debian they seem kind of slow even just browsing the web.
- eknkc 7y ago
  Was thinking the same thing. It can drive two 4k displays. Yay! Who the hell uses these like that?
  - jonhendry18 7y ago
    That's two menu screens at a fast food restaurant. (They need not be 4k, of course.)
- michielr 7y ago
  They get used as a 'kiosk' a lot, even for commercial use. I'm guessing this caters to that need.
- ycombinete 7y ago
  I’ve often noticed Pi’s attached to the back of tvs running adverts in retail situations. Perhaps this has something to do with it.
- cmauniada 7y ago
  Apart from work, we learned to write bare bone code on these so it was necessary having an HDMI output. Our project was to re create a classic game without using the OS, straight up programming on metal. So the HDMI was much needed.
- wrong_variable 7y ago
  Definitely ! I do not use my laptop's keyboard, mouse or monitor. Everything is external for me. A much more powerful rPi means it might be possible to ditch the laptop form factor for good. The only missing piece of technology for me is a laptop body WITHOUT a compute core ( only screen and a cheap keyboard ). So that I can attach a rPi at the back. Linux runs very well on ARM, in relation to Intel. and the power consumption is tiny ! I can run an rPi on portable battery for days ! it would be really cool if I could attach, reattach multiple battery pack onto my laptop.
  - weikju 7y ago
    There's the Nexdock / Nexdock 2 [0], if to be believed that will be shipping later this year, And some other projects listed here in a Purism thread [1] [0] http://nexdock.com/ http://nexdock.com/ [1] https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-linda/2206 https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-lin...
    - etrautmann 7y ago
      This is the opposite though as it forces one to use the laptop form factor.
      - weikju 7y ago
        Is the opposite of what? Wrong variable was asking for a laptop without compute part to which they could strap a Pi. That’s exactly what the Nexdock is at least.
- resfirestar 7y ago
  Education users? K-12 classroom use probably would be as workstations, and dual displays would be useful for the teacher (monitor + projector).
- asark 7y ago
  Looking at the 3 vs. 4, my eye went to the memory options—up to 4GB in the 4, versus 1GB in the 3—the USB 3 ports, and the fact that the 4 just says "Gigabit Ethernet", not "Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0". H.265 hardware decoding's pretty big too. Had made them a subpar choice for Kodi boxes and such for a while. I... may be getting a few of these. I'd skipped the 3 on account of how the 2 turned out to be kind of a bust for me (have three, none in use...) but the faster IO and higher RAM options makes these one hell of a lot more useful. At 4GB you can kinda use the web, even, as long as you shy away from using more than one or two "web apps" (to include Electron) at a time.
  - nine_k 7y ago
    (Nitpicking: real gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 is impossible, USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mbit. Still better than 100 Mbit Ethernet.)
    - asark 7y ago
      Yeah, I know, that's why the old one sucked. [EDIT] sucked is harsh—it did what it said it would. It sucked if you actually wanted to use the Pi for serious IO of any kind. USB2.0 and Ethernet limited to USB2.0 speeds was no good at all for that.
  - benn_88 7y ago
    Yeah, for the first time it's true gigabit. Results from iperf: Raspberry Pi 3B: 94Mb/s Raspberry Pi 3B+: 285Mb/s Raspberry Pi 4B: 930Mb/s https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584 https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584
- nine_k 7y ago
  Imagine that you want to build a dashboard (performance, build status, things like that) for a roomful of engineers. Yes, you pick an RPi, an cheap but large 720p TV, and you've got an wireless dashboard device for under $200 and couple of hours spent setting it up.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- cosmie 7y ago
  I'm not sure how common it is to use it as a workstation, but I've seen a lot of instances where a pi is used to power displays in business settings. Think internal things like dashboards, team/company messages, project calendars, etc. As well as external facing things such as menu boards, "Welcome" messages behind front desks, building directories, etc. Whether a pi is the most appropriate device for that is another matter, but it seems to be a frequent enough use. And being able to power dual screens in these scenarios would be really helpful. That said, between the marketing messaging and this[1], it seems like they really are pushing it as a potential low-powered workstation. So maybe that is something people do... [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-kit/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-...
  - sl1ck731 7y ago
    I've also seen it used as dumb clients for POS-like things. Imagine the screens technicians at the lube center you get your oil changed at use to lookup your information.
  - jdboyd 7y ago
    It took a few years for me to accept this, but the ongoing commitment to continuing to make available most Raspberry Pis is a pretty compelling argument for many business purposes over using a random old used PC or a more powerful SBC that may not longer be available in a year. The development of specialized OS distributions for some of these tasks only furthers the strength of the choice for going with what could be otherwise under powered hardware.
porker 7y ago
I was hoping for dual ethernet, to use as a cheap firewall. Dual everything else except that.
- gingabriska 7y ago
  Pretty sure there is one orange pi or Banana pi for that.
- wrong_variable 7y ago
  You could buy a ( usb -> ethernet ) cable for less than 5 dollars. I use ( usb -> ethernet ) for the rPi zero. You even get ( usb -> ( ethernet, usb, usb , usb ) ) accessory, which is really cool.
  - smichel17 7y ago
    I have one of the larger ones (3 usb + Ethernet). I received it as a gift and was originally skeptical of the usefulness of the usb ports vs the size tradeoff, but it turns out to be super useful. It stays on my desk with my mouse, keyboard, and printer plugged in, and acts as a pseudo-dock for my laptop. Very nice!
- mrkstu 7y ago
  USB 3 should drive enough throughput to do that if you want.
- mustardo 7y ago
  The NanoPi R1 looks interesting but lacks the software support on mainline / upstream that RPi has https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=248 https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&...
- voltagex_ 7y ago
  Probably better going for something like the Espressobin or even a C3000 series Atom.
- rswail 7y ago
adrianN 7y ago
4GB RAM is a lot better than before, but I had hoped for 8GB. If the Raspi had a decent amount of RAM I would seriously consider using one as my main computer.
- tmikaeld 7y ago
  it seems to be the soc limit. I've only seen more than 4gb on custom arm server boards.
  - kurtisc 7y ago
    My phone has 6GB
    - ch_123 7y ago
      Your phone probably has a CPU which costs as much (or nearly as much as the Raspi itself). The Raspi CPUs are never the most sophisticated on the market. Odroid used to make SBCs with the same CPUs as flagship Samsung phones, and they cost $150-200 a board.
      - kurtisc 7y ago
        Yes, but it's not a custom Arm server board
polskibus 7y ago
Amazing improvements. Seems like they are getting much closer I'm terms of performance to ODROID.
mekpro 7y ago
A step up to A72 cores while retaining the same price is huge. Kudo to the Raspberry Pi team.
meruru 7y ago
This looks like an awesome upgrade. These are the biggest highlights to me: >The Ethernet controller on the main SoC is connected to an external Broadcom PHY over a dedicated RGMII link, providing full throughput. USB is provided via an external VLI controller, connected over a single PCI Express Gen 2 lane, and providing a total of 4Gbps of bandwidth, shared between the four ports. >we’re using the Mesa “V3D” driver developed by Eric Anholt [...] It also eliminates roughly half of the lines of closed-source code in the platform.
busymom0 7y ago
I just bought a 3B+ 2 weeks ago and was running into issues with my server needing a bit more memory. Glad to see the 4GB option and I am going to get one of these and return the old one.
Hamuko 7y ago
Is the Gigabit Ethernet finally not over the USB 2.0 bus?
- asark 7y ago
  Looks that way. And it got two USB 3.0 ports. And up to 4GB of RAM (there are now multiple options). Hello new home file server, I think.
ohazi 7y ago
Has anyone found a reference to the Wifi / Bluetooth chipset? Is it the same one as on the 3b+?
- busymom0 7y ago
  It now supports Bluetooth 5.0 https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/... > 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE
tjoff 7y ago
Neat, I really like the raspberry pis. There are often better specs to buy but not with the same support and community - and that is worth a lot! However I'm not thrilled with the apparent price point of the new ones. The prices I get are €46,83 – €66,96. Which I guess will settle a bit with time but it is a huge step up from any previous Pi.
- stefs 7y ago
  depends on the RAM and extras. pure pi with 1gb and no power adapter/cable/case is still ~35€. the more expensive options are with either 4gb ram and/or bundles.
greenyoda 7y ago
Earlier submission with lots of discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863
v4n4d1s 7y ago
Just ordered two 4GB variants. They're getting strong enough to replace my 3 node proxmox cluster at home for most of my services. Not happy with micro-HDMI though.

95 points by benn_88 7y ago

Link to release blog entry: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-4-on-sale-now-from-35/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-4-on-sale-now-... (submitted as: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863)

sschueller 7y ago

Interesting differences to the pi 3 io is the dual hdmi out. I don't use the hdmi out very much on any of my pis so I find this interesting. Are people using these as workstations? Even with stripped down Debian they seem kind of slow even just browsing the web.

eknkc 7y ago
Was thinking the same thing. It can drive two 4k displays. Yay! Who the hell uses these like that?
- jonhendry18 7y ago
  That's two menu screens at a fast food restaurant. (They need not be 4k, of course.)
michielr 7y ago
They get used as a 'kiosk' a lot, even for commercial use. I'm guessing this caters to that need.
ycombinete 7y ago
I’ve often noticed Pi’s attached to the back of tvs running adverts in retail situations. Perhaps this has something to do with it.
cmauniada 7y ago
Apart from work, we learned to write bare bone code on these so it was necessary having an HDMI output. Our project was to re create a classic game without using the OS, straight up programming on metal. So the HDMI was much needed.
wrong_variable 7y ago
Definitely ! I do not use my laptop's keyboard, mouse or monitor. Everything is external for me. A much more powerful rPi means it might be possible to ditch the laptop form factor for good. The only missing piece of technology for me is a laptop body WITHOUT a compute core ( only screen and a cheap keyboard ). So that I can attach a rPi at the back. Linux runs very well on ARM, in relation to Intel. and the power consumption is tiny ! I can run an rPi on portable battery for days ! it would be really cool if I could attach, reattach multiple battery pack onto my laptop.
- weikju 7y ago
  There's the Nexdock / Nexdock 2 [0], if to be believed that will be shipping later this year, And some other projects listed here in a Purism thread [1] [0] http://nexdock.com/ http://nexdock.com/ [1] https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-linda/2206 https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-lin...
  - etrautmann 7y ago
    This is the opposite though as it forces one to use the laptop form factor.
    - weikju 7y ago
      Is the opposite of what? Wrong variable was asking for a laptop without compute part to which they could strap a Pi. That’s exactly what the Nexdock is at least.
resfirestar 7y ago
Education users? K-12 classroom use probably would be as workstations, and dual displays would be useful for the teacher (monitor + projector).
asark 7y ago
Looking at the 3 vs. 4, my eye went to the memory options—up to 4GB in the 4, versus 1GB in the 3—the USB 3 ports, and the fact that the 4 just says "Gigabit Ethernet", not "Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0". H.265 hardware decoding's pretty big too. Had made them a subpar choice for Kodi boxes and such for a while. I... may be getting a few of these. I'd skipped the 3 on account of how the 2 turned out to be kind of a bust for me (have three, none in use...) but the faster IO and higher RAM options makes these one hell of a lot more useful. At 4GB you can kinda use the web, even, as long as you shy away from using more than one or two "web apps" (to include Electron) at a time.
- nine_k 7y ago
  (Nitpicking: real gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 is impossible, USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mbit. Still better than 100 Mbit Ethernet.)
  - asark 7y ago
    Yeah, I know, that's why the old one sucked. [EDIT] sucked is harsh—it did what it said it would. It sucked if you actually wanted to use the Pi for serious IO of any kind. USB2.0 and Ethernet limited to USB2.0 speeds was no good at all for that.
- benn_88 7y ago
  Yeah, for the first time it's true gigabit. Results from iperf: Raspberry Pi 3B: 94Mb/s Raspberry Pi 3B+: 285Mb/s Raspberry Pi 4B: 930Mb/s https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584 https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584
nine_k 7y ago
Imagine that you want to build a dashboard (performance, build status, things like that) for a roomful of engineers. Yes, you pick an RPi, an cheap but large 720p TV, and you've got an wireless dashboard device for under $200 and couple of hours spent setting it up.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
cosmie 7y ago
I'm not sure how common it is to use it as a workstation, but I've seen a lot of instances where a pi is used to power displays in business settings. Think internal things like dashboards, team/company messages, project calendars, etc. As well as external facing things such as menu boards, "Welcome" messages behind front desks, building directories, etc. Whether a pi is the most appropriate device for that is another matter, but it seems to be a frequent enough use. And being able to power dual screens in these scenarios would be really helpful. That said, between the marketing messaging and this[1], it seems like they really are pushing it as a potential low-powered workstation. So maybe that is something people do... [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-kit/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-...
- sl1ck731 7y ago
  I've also seen it used as dumb clients for POS-like things. Imagine the screens technicians at the lube center you get your oil changed at use to lookup your information.
- jdboyd 7y ago
  It took a few years for me to accept this, but the ongoing commitment to continuing to make available most Raspberry Pis is a pretty compelling argument for many business purposes over using a random old used PC or a more powerful SBC that may not longer be available in a year. The development of specialized OS distributions for some of these tasks only furthers the strength of the choice for going with what could be otherwise under powered hardware.

porker 7y ago

I was hoping for dual ethernet, to use as a cheap firewall. Dual everything else except that.

gingabriska 7y ago
Pretty sure there is one orange pi or Banana pi for that.
wrong_variable 7y ago
You could buy a ( usb -> ethernet ) cable for less than 5 dollars. I use ( usb -> ethernet ) for the rPi zero. You even get ( usb -> ( ethernet, usb, usb , usb ) ) accessory, which is really cool.
- smichel17 7y ago
  I have one of the larger ones (3 usb + Ethernet). I received it as a gift and was originally skeptical of the usefulness of the usb ports vs the size tradeoff, but it turns out to be super useful. It stays on my desk with my mouse, keyboard, and printer plugged in, and acts as a pseudo-dock for my laptop. Very nice!
mrkstu 7y ago
USB 3 should drive enough throughput to do that if you want.
mustardo 7y ago
The NanoPi R1 looks interesting but lacks the software support on mainline / upstream that RPi has https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=248 https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&...
voltagex_ 7y ago
Probably better going for something like the Espressobin or even a C3000 series Atom.
rswail 7y ago

adrianN 7y ago

4GB RAM is a lot better than before, but I had hoped for 8GB. If the Raspi had a decent amount of RAM I would seriously consider using one as my main computer.

tmikaeld 7y ago
it seems to be the soc limit. I've only seen more than 4gb on custom arm server boards.
- kurtisc 7y ago
  My phone has 6GB
  - ch_123 7y ago
    Your phone probably has a CPU which costs as much (or nearly as much as the Raspi itself). The Raspi CPUs are never the most sophisticated on the market. Odroid used to make SBCs with the same CPUs as flagship Samsung phones, and they cost $150-200 a board.
    - kurtisc 7y ago
      Yes, but it's not a custom Arm server board

polskibus 7y ago

Amazing improvements. Seems like they are getting much closer I'm terms of performance to ODROID.

mekpro 7y ago

A step up to A72 cores while retaining the same price is huge. Kudo to the Raspberry Pi team.

meruru 7y ago

This looks like an awesome upgrade. These are the biggest highlights to me: >The Ethernet controller on the main SoC is connected to an external Broadcom PHY over a dedicated RGMII link, providing full throughput. USB is provided via an external VLI controller, connected over a single PCI Express Gen 2 lane, and providing a total of 4Gbps of bandwidth, shared between the four ports. >we’re using the Mesa “V3D” driver developed by Eric Anholt [...] It also eliminates roughly half of the lines of closed-source code in the platform.

busymom0 7y ago

I just bought a 3B+ 2 weeks ago and was running into issues with my server needing a bit more memory. Glad to see the 4GB option and I am going to get one of these and return the old one.

Hamuko 7y ago

Is the Gigabit Ethernet finally not over the USB 2.0 bus?

asark 7y ago
Looks that way. And it got two USB 3.0 ports. And up to 4GB of RAM (there are now multiple options). Hello new home file server, I think.

ohazi 7y ago

Has anyone found a reference to the Wifi / Bluetooth chipset? Is it the same one as on the 3b+?

busymom0 7y ago
It now supports Bluetooth 5.0 https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/specifications/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/... > 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE

tjoff 7y ago

Neat, I really like the raspberry pis. There are often better specs to buy but not with the same support and community - and that is worth a lot! However I'm not thrilled with the apparent price point of the new ones. The prices I get are €46,83 – €66,96. Which I guess will settle a bit with time but it is a huge step up from any previous Pi.

stefs 7y ago
depends on the RAM and extras. pure pi with 1gb and no power adapter/cable/case is still ~35€. the more expensive options are with either 4gb ram and/or bundles.

greenyoda 7y ago

Earlier submission with lots of discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20260863

v4n4d1s 7y ago

Just ordered two 4GB variants. They're getting strong enough to replace my 3 node proxmox cluster at home for most of my services. Not happy with micro-HDMI though.