One of the major selling points of the Raspberry Pi is that delectable $35 price point. That’s the high-end model at that price; they don’t get more expensive than that. There’s been some clamoring for a new model featuring 512MB worth of RAM, though. According to the folks behind the Raspberry Pi, it’s one of the most common suggestions. Rather than crafting a new model with extra RAM and charging more for it, however, they’ve simply decided their old $35 Model B will include 512MB from here on in.
It gets better, though. Anyone that has already ordered a Raspberry Pi will have their unit upgraded to the newest version. This is in line with previous additions, but the jump to 512MB of RAM is certainly one of the largest. There will also be a firmware upgrade out soon so users can access all that extra memory.
Having 512MB of RAM rather than the previous 256MB means that the Raspberry Pi can be used for more general purposes. Multiple large applications running at the same time as well as more advanced Java shenanigans should function more effortlessly than before on the new hardware.
All of these upgrades and everything are great, but customers would probably just like to get their units in a timely manner. Horror stories about waiting three months or more before delivery aren’t uncommon. That said, at least they’ll be getting 512MB of RAM now. That’s something, at least.
(Raspberry Pi via Hacker News)
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