• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Meet the Raspberry Pi Zero W - Same small form factor now with wireless for $10

Status
Not open for further replies.
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Raspberry Pi Blog

Today is Raspberry Pi’s fifth birthday: it’s five years since we launched the original Raspberry Pi, selling a hundred thousand units in the first day, and setting us on the road to a lifetime total (so far) of over twelve million units. To celebrate, we’re announcing a new product: meet Raspberry Pi Zero W, a new variant of Raspberry Pi Zero with wireless LAN and Bluetooth, priced at only $10.
Click to expand...

To recap, here’s the full feature list for Zero W:

1GHz, single-core CPU
512MB RAM
Mini-HDMI port
Micro-USB On-The-Go port
Micro-USB power
HAT-compatible 40-pin header
Composite video and reset headers
CSI camera connector
802.11n wireless LAN
Bluetooth 4.0

Announcement Video


ZeroW.jpg


cases-768x512.jpg
Click to expand...
 
L

lord

Member
Weird that wireless doubles the price though. Crazy that the wireless chip costs the same as the rest of the board. On the other hand maybe raising the price will help them keep these in strock, it can be a pain to get as many zeroes as you need.
 
C

clav

Member
I suppose no successor for Raspberry Pi 3 yet. Announcement was expected in February.

Kinda disappointing, but I guess we can wait. Been a while since I checked driver support/functionality for that platform.

Barzul said:
How are these used?
Click to expand...

IoT homebrew/backyard projects.
 
E

Eric_S

Member
Barzul said:
How are these used?
Click to expand...

It's a small computer. You load a SD card with an OS of your choice, connect the devices you like and need, and off you go.

The micro USB and micro(?) HDMI may be a bit annoying depending on what you want to use it for. But if that's a major issue, there there's always the Pi3.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
lord said:
Weird that wireless doubles the price though. Crazy that the wireless chip costs the same as the rest of the board. On the other hand maybe raising the price will help them keep these in strock, it can be a pain to get as many zeroes as you need.
Click to expand...

Had to add BT in as well. At any rate doubt it fixes stock. If anything this might put it in more demand.

Granted not everyone needs wifi or BT, but I think a lot of people were buying the zero and trying to Daisy chain a ton of functions through the single USB port.

This makes the zero sooo much better. You can use it in factors never possible before cause you had a bunch of dongles in the USB port. Plus all the dongles were more than the $5 price hike.

Shit is gonna sell like gangbusters.
 
E

Eric_S

Member
Tbh I was half expecting that this would take quite a bit longer, and include a SoC update (thus the longer wait) and maybe an extra feature or two like 3g or some vias connected to some power logic that you could use to hook up a LiPo.

But WiFi and BT is all good, separate dongles aren't free and if they bolstered their margins to increase the availability, then fine by me.

(And maybe the pressure on this will finally make the $5 og Zero easier to get :p )
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
I got Pure Data running on a Pi2 with the idea of making a programmable audio FX box for music performance. I want that weekend back :(

But it'd be fun to make an emulator box or a controller of some kind out of one of these. I just wish they didn't have to boot a full Linux environment every time they ran.
 
ebullientprism

ebullientprism

Member
How well do you guys think this will do do video playback?

Like, could I just get this and plug it into a TV to do Netflix, Youtube and Amazon prime? The single core proccy and the 512 MB seems like it wont be too hot at it.
 
L

lord

Member
Vanillalite said:
Had to add BT in as well. At any rate doubt it fixes stock. If anything this might put it in more demand.

Granted not everyone needs wifi or BT, but I think a lot of people were buying the zero and trying to Daisy chain a ton of functions through the single USB port.

This makes the zero sooo much better. You can use it in factors never possible before cause you had a bunch of dongles in the USB port. Plus all the dongles were more than the $5 price hike.

Shit is gonna sell like gangbusters.
Click to expand...
It's only one chip that handles both, the Cypress CYW43438, same one they're using on the RPi3, it's why it's crazy that it adds double the price. It's a steal either way though.
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
I still have my 0 I got with the PiMag ages back. Unlike the original Zero this is actually useful for very small IoT projects.

jiji said:
I got Pure Data running on a Pi2 with the idea of making a programmable audio FX box for music performance. I want that weekend back :(

But it'd be fun to make an emulator box or a controller of some kind out of one of these. I just wish they didn't have to boot a full Linux environment every time they ran.
Click to expand...
These aren't microcontrollers. They are only suited for tasks where you actually want a full computer, but anything that needs tight timing control is not feasible. You COULD do a controller, but latency would be abysmal.
 
M

mike6467

Member
I'm sure I'll find a use for one of these. Or not, but just like every other Pi and Arduino I'll mess around with it.

Also, every time they release one of these, I can't help but remember the $2,000 433Mhz Pentium II with 128mb of RAM and onboard video my parents got in the mid-late 90's. I am now that old guy.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Haha. I can't believe this makes my 3 look bloated. But HDMI and regular size USB are important to me.
 
B

blahness

Member
Picked one up, but don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I have a rpi3 which is being used for retro gaming and content streaming, so this one will either be used as an in-home ad-blocker/vpn or put to use in some fun project.
 
B

BronsonLee

Member
blahness said:
Picked one up, but don't know what I am going to do with it yet. I have a rpi3 which is being used for retro gaming and content streaming, so this one will either be used as an in-home ad-blocker/vpn or put to use in some fun project.
Click to expand...

You will give it to me
 
M

m_shortpants

Member
I just started using a Pi for some basic smart home automation, turning on/off some RF outlets and lights and such.

This will be awesome.
 
V

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Red Liquorice said:
I'm looking at buying another Pi, I currently have a 2 Model B. This Zero W isn't as 'powerful' as the Pi 3 right?
Click to expand...

Not near as powerful. The purpose of the W is the smaller form factor. The Pi 3 isn't huge by any means, but as you can seen in the comparison pic the W is super small.

So your basically buying the W cause it's smaller and saves you some cash if you don't need the extra horsepower.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

The Raspberry Pi/SBC/Mini PC Thread
2
92
8K
Bullet Club replied
Raspberry Pi 4 released (quad core A72, 1GB/2GB/4GB DDR4, USB 3.0, 4K/60fps HEVC)
2 3
134
15K
hariseldon replied
  • Locked
Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer
2 3
124
19K
clav replied
  • Locked
Raspberry Pi ZERO: THE $5 COMPUTER (40% faster than Pi 1)
0
1K
Card Boy replied
Introducing the Raspberry Pi Zero - Faster than the OG Pi and only $5
32
8K
TheTux replied
Top Bottom