The Raspberry Pi foundation has released the Model B+, its latest model for the popular Raspberry Pi 3 hobby board. It features several hard updates including dual-band 802.11ac WiFi, a faster Broadcom processor, and Gigabit Ethernet.
The new Model B+ is fitted with a 1.4GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 64-bit Broadcom BCM2873B0 processor, which has better thermal management. This is beneficial to those looking for a monitoring device running 24/7 without worrying it from overheating due to continuous use.
Connectivity is where the Model B+ sees the biggest update. The WiFi on the board is now dual-band 802.11ac, allowing it connect to newer 5GHz networks with ease. It also comes with Bluetooth 4.2 on board, as well as gigabit Ethernet. Other features includes support for Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) with a new PoE hat, as well as better support for USB mass-storage booting.
The Foundation kept the design and the general placements of ports/pins of the Model B+ similar to its predecessors, so it can fit with virtually all Raspberry Pi 3 cases in the market. Better yet, the Foundation has kept the price at $35 (about RM135). It is listed on Element14, the Malaysian distributor for the board, as coming this April 2018.
(Source: Raspberry Pi Foundation, Element14)
