For over a decade, the Raspberry Pi has been the reply to anybody trying to get began with Linux with out wrecking their fundamental pc. You did not have to cope with dual-boot installs or digital machines. An inexpensive, sub-$50 credit score card-sized pc, a microSD card, and your cellphone’s charging brick have been all it took.
However in 2026, you may be capable of skip the Raspberry Pi and never remorse it. The Raspberry Pi continues to be right here, higher and extra succesful than ever, and it is nonetheless low cost. Nonetheless, it is not the one possibility in the marketplace anymore. For the worth you are paying, you may simply be capable of discover one thing extra {powerful}, extra appropriate, or each.
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7 Tasks For Your New 16GB Raspberry Pi 5
Put your new, ultra-powerful Raspberry Pi 5 to good use.
Low cost isn’t what it was once
How Raspberry Pi pricing drifted from its authentic enchantment
When it first launched in September 2023, the Raspberry Pi 5 was priced at $60 for the 4 GB variant, $80 for the 8 GB variant, and $120 for the 16 GB variant. Nonetheless, if you happen to’re trying to choose one up at this time, the 8 GB variant alone can price as a lot as $200 on Adafruit. The 4 GB variant, hailed because the wise price range possibility, is promoting for properly over $100 throughout retailers, and the top-of-the-line 16 GB Raspberry Pi 5 can go as excessive as $300—that’s, if yow will discover one in inventory.
A part of the explanation for this worth hike is the DRAM scarcity that hit the semiconductor trade in late 2025. What started as a modest worth bump in December 2025 has since snowballed right into a collection of fairly aggressive worth hikes which have made the most recent Raspberry Pi 5 a little bit of an aspirational product. The Raspberry Pi Basis did introduce a $50 entry-level 1 GB mannequin to protect a few of its authentic spirit, however you are not working a satisfying Linux desktop on 1 GB of RAM in 2026.
The Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 are nonetheless extraordinarily purposeful, succesful machines. However low cost used to imply you can choose one up on impulse. At $200 for the 8 GB variant, the Raspberry Pi continues to be low cost when you think about the bigger pc market, however it’s not an impulse purchase. You additionally want to purchase a microSD card, energy provide, and ideally a case individually, contemplating you have already got a keyboard, mouse, and show to get your complete setup working.
Model
Raspberry
CPU
2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU
Reminiscence
16GB LPDDR4X
Ports
4 USB ports, GbE, microSD, 2 mini-HDMI ports
The fifth iteration of the Raspberry Pi delivers important CPU and graphics enhancements over earlier fashions, incorporating twin 4Kp60 HDMI output, sooner USB 3.0 throughput, and a devoted PCIe 2.0 interface for high-speed peripherals and superior industrial or hobbyist purposes.
The alternate options lastly make sense
Mini PCs, outdated laptops, and boards that provide higher worth
Screenshot by Yadullah Abidi | No Attribution Required.
The remainder of the single-board pc market has additionally gotten its act collectively. The Orange Pi 5, constructed across the Rockchip RK35885—an octa-core chip with each A76 and A55 cores working as much as 2.4 GHz—punches equally if no more than what the Pi 5 affords at a comparable worth. You’ll be able to choose up its 8 GB variant on Amazon for as little as $183.99 on the time of writing, with the 16 GB variant going for $249.99.
The Orange Pi additionally helps 8K video output, has an M.2 slot for NVMe SSDs, and even comes with a built-in NPU with 6 TOPS of AI computing energy. Nonetheless, I think you are not getting a lot use out of that NPU, contemplating NPUs on laptops are nonetheless ineffective. Regardless, it is nonetheless there for the sake of future-proofing, and the Orange Pi lineup helps Ubuntu and Debian out of the field, so you are not locked right into a simplified Linux distro.
Unique picture by James Bruce: https://static0.makeuseofimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/blackview-mp60-contents.jpgCredit: James Bruce / MakeUseOf
When you’re contemplating choosing up a single-board pc for a house lab state of affairs, you is perhaps higher off shopping for a mini PC with Intel’s N-series processors. A whole mini PC with an Intel N100 chip, 8 GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD, and lively cooling could be simply purchased for underneath $200. And that is not a naked board requiring extra equipment. That is an entire, ready-to-boot pc with an x86 chip, that means you may run nearly each Linux distribution underneath the solar with no points. Companies like Docker and Proxmox additionally run flawlessly, and you will not should cope with any of the ARM compatibility points that may nonetheless catch Raspberry Pi builds abruptly.
Picture taken by Yadullah Abidi | No attribution required.
Final however not least, you can even set up a full Linux desktop in your Android cellphone. Android 16 additionally helps a brand new, native Linux terminal that is fairly helpful. I did not purchase a Raspberry Pi or mini PC for my house lab and went with an outdated Android cellphone as an alternative. It isn’t the right resolution, and you’d need one thing extra {powerful} if you happen to’re trying to run a ton of sophisticated companies, however it’s an excellent start line with a tool you already personal.
The Raspberry Pi nonetheless has a spot
The place it continues to be the fitting instrument
Credit score: Shaun Cichacki/MUO
None of because of this the Raspberry Pi is a nasty product. It is objectively not. The neighborhood round it’s nice, and the amount of tutorials, YouTube guides, and challenge documentation is sort of overwhelming in a great way. Raspberry Pi OS, installable in minutes by means of the official imager instrument, can be probably the most polished newbie Linux distros you should utilize.
When you’re simply studying to code or wish to construct a selected {hardware} challenge utilizing GPIO pins and HATs, the Pi’s ecosystem continues to be the trail of least resistance by a large margin, to not point out all of the neighborhood and on-line assist you may discover when constructing nearly all the things.
The Pi additionally wins in terms of dimension and energy consumption. A mini-PC continues to be a PC, no matter how reasonably priced it will get. The Pi 5 is a credit-card-sized board sipping 5 volts from a USB-C charger that you could jam into an unimaginable quantity of tasks.
Ask this before you purchase something
Selecting your first Linux challenge primarily based on use, not hype
The true situation is not whether or not the Raspberry Pi is sweet anymore or not. It completely is. The problem is that it is not the plain default advice for a newbie who simply desires to discover Linux. In case your objective is to know how Linux works, observe the command-line, run a house server, or experiment with self-hosting, a used mini PC will provide you with a sooner, extra appropriate, and more and more cheaper expertise. You may additionally spend much less time combating ARM compatibility points and extra time tinkering.
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I began utilizing Linux terminal on Android and now I can do issues no app retailer instrument permits
My cellphone is greater than a cellphone now.
The Pi’s legendary standing is each well-earned and deserved. However earlier than you spend $200 for a single-board pc that you could be or might not use when you’re achieved taking part in with it, it is value asking whether or not that cash may purchase you one thing extra {powerful}, extra appropriate, and sure simply as reasonably priced.
