The first Pi wasn't just great for builder projects and learning to code, but made for an amazing general-purpose computer if what you needed was the ability to surf the web and write essays.The Pi range has gone on to release some real bangers, and I think both my Pi 4 and Pi 5 are amazing machines, even at today's ridiculously inflated prices.That said, it does feel like the Pi 5 is just the Pi 4, but .
The more I think about it, the more I think the organization has to shift direction somewhat, or future Pis could end up being great computers, but for an era that doesn't exist anymore.Raspberry Pi OS needs a complete desktop redesign There's minimalism, and then there's dragging your heels Raspberry Pi OS is excellent, don't get me wrong.But, I can't help feeling that I'm using a minimal distro that was designed for a system with much less compute and memory.
I know the OS has been getting plenty of attention, and it was upgraded to use Wayland back in 2024, with improved touchscreen support too.However, the fact of the matter is that the Raspberry Pi of today is in competition with Chromebooks and cheap Mini PCs.These systems run operating systems that just feel more modern and fleshed-out, and the Pi 5 and future models have enough horsepower for those fundamental experiences to run without any significant penalty.
At the very least, it would be nice to have the options for some bells and whistles when it comes to how Raspberry Pi OS looks and behaves.We can decide if we think the performance tradeoff is worth it or not.If it looks and runs like any other modern popular Linux Distro, that would be enough for me.
Raspberry Pi 5 Brand Raspberry Pi Storage 8GB It's only recommended for tech-savvy users, but the Raspberry Pi 5 is a tinkerer's dream.Cheap, highly customizable, and with great onboard specs, it's a solid base for your next mini PC.$130 at Spark Fun $199 at Amazon $175 at CanaKit Expand Collapse It’s time to finally embrace NVMe storage by default It's essential future-proofing When the Pi first arrived, using SD card technology as the primary system drive was brilliant.
Using an SD card for a system drive is usually a terrible idea, but it made sense for this disruptive single-board computer.SD cards were cheap, and no one was supposed to use a Raspberry Pi for mission-critical work.That's no longer true.
So I think it's time to make support for NVMe SSDs part of the base package, and not an add-on.Does NVMe support make a big difference in most cases, even for the fastest current Pis? Most of the time the answer is no, but going ahead I'm confident the processing power of these boards will begin to justify something faster than SD cards.That said, MicroSD Express is another great potential option.
These cards are faster than SATA III SSDs, much more robust than standard SD, and SD Express readers are backwards compatible.So perhaps the logical way forward for Raspberry Pi.The Raspberry Pi ecosystem needs a unified AI strategy This is one hat that should never be taken off Did you know that you can now run certain AI models locally on a Raspberry Pi? It might be surprising to hear, but people are finding plenty of AI use cases for SBCs like the Pi and the Pi itself.
Right now, you can buy AI add-ons, or connect a GPU using a PCIe extender, or in some cases, even run models on the Pi CPU.Albeit at a very slow token rate.But it's clear that having a dedicated AI accelerator is going to be an important part of SBCs going ahead.
Some niche machines like the Lychee Pi 4 developer SBCs, have NPUs (Neural Processing Units) built in already, and I think the Pi Foundation should aim to include similar hardware in future Pis eventually.Deals Save on Maker & Creator deals for SBCs and accessories Explore Maker & Creator deals and discounts on single-board computers, NVMe and SD storage solutions, AI accelerator modules, HATs, cameras, cases, power supplies, and prototyping kits.Shop offers now to save on project-ready gear.
Deals Explore Maker & Creator Deals Especially if it still espouses learning computer science as a primary goal of the device, and certainly because plenty of Pi projects are going to include things like local voice recognition or machine vision models.More RAM and a true desktop-class SoC are overdue This last one is certainly more in the realm of wishful thinking, especially given the current economic issues when it comes to microchips and memory.However, the Raspberry Pi is stuck in a weird limbo right now where its latest board is really too powerful for the things that SBCs are best at, but not powerful enough to keep up with the (upgradable) mini PCs it's starting to compete with on price.
So either they have to focus on keeping the current performance levels and RAM allocation and making the next Pi cheaper, or future generations of Pi have to double down and at least offer higher-spec versions with much more RAM and a more potent SoC with real desktop-class CPU power by today's standards.Arm CPU technology is really coming into its own, so maybe I'm not being too unrealistic here, but I really would like to see at least a special tier of Pi that's all about putting as much performance into that form factor.
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