New Raspberry Pi 5 Model is Just $50

The Raspberry Pi Foundation now offers a Raspberry Pi 5 model with 2 GB of RAM that costs just $50, $10 less than the previous entry-level 4 GB version.

“You asked for a lower cost Raspberry Pi 5, so here it is,” Eben Upton writes in the announcement post. “We’re happy to announce the launch of the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5, built on a cost-optimized D0 stepping of the BCM2712 application processor, and priced at just $50.”

The Raspberry Pi 5 launched almost one year ago in 4 GB and 8 GB versions at $60 and $80, respectively. So the new version offers less RAM and is less expensive. But it’s also more efficient than its 4 and 8 GB siblings thanks to the removal of “dark silicon”–for functionality in the Broadcom BCM2712C1 that Raspberry Pi doesn’t need–that’s present but disabled in those original versions. The new D0 stepping is functionally identical to the original version of the chip, but it’s less expensive to manufacture. That, combined, with the cost savings of using half the RAM, enabled Raspberry Pi to achieve the lower new entry price.

Upton also noted that the foundation’s home-built Raspberry Pi OS helps it achieve reasonable performance on a Pi 5 with less RAM. The system is already optimized for resource usage and designed to run on older Raspberry Pi devices, so it works well with the 2 GB Raspberry Pi 5 as well.

“Our most demanding users — who want to drive dual 4Kp60 displays, or open a hundred browser tabs, or compile complex software from source — will probably stick with the existing higher memory-capacity variants of Raspberry Pi 5,” he adds. “[But] many of you will find that this new, lower-cost variant works perfectly well for your use cases.”

You can learn more about the 2 GB Raspberry Pi 5 on the Raspberry Pi website.