A new low-memory edition of a popular single-board computer Raspberry Pi has entered the market at a lower price point, delivering the full next-gen feature set to developers and hobbyists while rising memory costs push up prices across other configurations.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has expanded the Pi 5 lineup with a new 1 GB RAM variant priced at US $45, making it the cheapest member of the flagship board family. This newcomer joins the existing 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB and 16 GB Pi 5 SKUs all sharing the same core hardware: a quad-core 2.4 GHz Arm Cortex-A76 CPU (with cryptography extensions), dual-band Wi-Fi, a PCIe port for expansion, dual 4Kp60 HDMI outputs with HDR support, and a VideoCore VII GPU offering OpenGL ES 3.1a and Vulkan 1.3 graphics.
The 1 GB variant is aimed at users who need a minimal Linux/open-source SBC for light workloads ideal for IoT, small home server builds or embedded applications. It brings the Pi 5’s capabilities within reach of price-conscious developers, hobbyists and educational users.But the launch of the bargain Pi 5 comes against a challenging backdrop. To counter rising LPDDR4 memory costs driven in part by increased demand from AI infrastructure the Foundation has raised prices across most of its Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 lineups.
For instance, the Pi 5’s 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB and 16 GB versions now cost US $55, $70, $95 and $145 respectively. Similar increases hit some Pi 4 models. According to the Foundation, the hikes are a temporary measure intended to ensure memory supply continuity in a constrained market. The decision underscores the pressure on hardware makers from global DRAM shortages and surging demand, especially in AI-driven sectors.
For many in the maker, embedded-systems and open-source communities, the 1 GB Pi 5 represents a renewed opening: a compact, capable SBC that balances cost and performance. But whether it becomes a go-to board depends on how workloads including memory-heavy tasks like containerization, multimedia or machine learning evolve.
