Description: How does a more compact and more economic Raspberry Pi sound to you? The Raspberry Pi 3 A+ is here and, like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, it boasts a 64-bit quad core processor running at 1.4GHz, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 4.2/BLE. The RPi3 A+ is still equipped with the same 64-bit processor as the B+ version but has removed the Ethernet connector and three of the USB ports (leaving you with just one). It still also has the same 2×20 GPIO header and CSI/DSI connectors, making it usable with all of your existing HATs, cameras, and other peripheries. This single-board computer is capable of many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word processing and playing high-definition video and games. It can run several flavors of Linux and is being used to teach kids all over the world how to program… Oh yeah, and it does all that for about $30.

As mentioned before, the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ features the Broadcom BCM2837, an ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit Quad Core Processor System-on-Chip operating at 1.4GHz, making it both small AND powerful. Since the A+ version only has a single USB port you may want to add more, you can still use a USB hub to provide enough connectivity for a mouse, keyboard, or anything else that you feel the RPi needs. Keep in mind, it is recommended that you use a powered hub so as not to overtax the onboard voltage regulator.

Powering the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ is easy: just plug any 5V/2.5A USB power supply into the microUSB port. There’s no power button, so the RPi will begin to boot as soon as power is applied. To turn it off, simply shut down the Pi 3 A+, then remove power.

On top of all that, the low-level peripherals on the RPi make it great for hardware hacking. The 0.1″ spaced 40-pin GPIO header on the RPi gives you access to 27 GPIO, UART, I²C, SPI, as well as 3.3 and 5V sources. Each pin on the GPIO header is identical to its predecessor. If you are planning to run a NOOBS card with the RPi3 A+ make sure that it is up to date with the latest version!

• Processor: Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 64-bit SoC @ 1.4 GHz
• Memory: 512MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• Connectivity: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz IEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE
• Access: Extended 40-pin GPIO header
• Video & sound: 1 × full size HDMI
  • MIPI DSI display port
  • MIPI CSI camera port
  • 4 pole stereo output and composite video port
• Multimedia: H.264, MPEG-4 decode (1080p30); H.264 encode (1080p30); OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics
• SD card support: Micro SD format for loading operating system and data storage
• Input power: 5 V/2.5 A DC via micro USB connector, 5 V DC via GPIO header
• Production lifetime: The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ will remain in production until at least January 2023