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The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced a new Raspberry Pi 4 model with 8 GB of RAM:
Now, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has upped the ante by releasing a Raspberry Pi 4 B with a generous 8GB of RAM. Launching today for $75, the Raspberry Pi 4 B (8GB) is identical to other Raspberry Pi 4 B models in every way, except for its RAM capacity. So what do you do with all that memory, and is spending $20 more than the price of the $55 4GB model worth it?
The short answer is that, right now, the 8GB capacity makes the most sense for users with very specialized needs: running data-intensive server loads or using virtual machines. As our tests show, it's pretty difficult to use more than 4GB of RAM on Raspberry Pi, even if you're a heavy multitasker.
A beta version of a 64-bit Raspbian OS, which is being renamed to "Raspberry Pi OS", is available. The existing 32-bit Raspbian can use all the RAM, but with a limit of up to 3 GB per process.
Some changes have been made to the board:
The back of the board adds silkscreen for certifications, as well as existing modifications for Raspberry Pi 4 Rev 1.2 to avoid damaging the board when inserting a MicroSD card. But the top of the board has more modification around the USB-C port, USB Type-A ports, and a chip between the VLI PCIe to USB chip and AV jack is just gone. So it's possible further USB-C issues have been fixed, and some improvements have been made to USB host ports maybe with regards to powering up external hard drives.
[Update from Eben Upton about hardware changes:
These are the regulator changes I mention in the post. The disappeared chip near the USB connector is the old regulator. The new stuff near the USB-C is the new regulator. The input clamp component has moved across to the USB area to make room.
Several iterations of the Raspberry Pi 4's firmware have reduced power consumption and heat. A beta-level firmware update from earlier in the week added USB boot support.
Also at TechCrunch, The Verge, Notebookcheck, Ars Technica, and ZDNet.
Previously: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Launched
Raspberry Pi 4B CPU Overclocked to 2.147 GHz, GPU at 750 MHz
Raspberry Pi Foundation Begins Working on Vulkan Driver
2 GB Model of Raspberry Pi 4 Gets Permanent Price Cut to $35
Raspberry Pi to Power Ventilators as Demand for Boards Surges
Raspberry Pi Launches Camera With Interchangeable Lens System for $50
(Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Friday May 29 2020, @02:27PM
Memory usage is higher than it appears, because the memory is used for caching. Which is exactly what you want to happen since LPDDR4 is much faster than a microSD or attached drive.
The browser can use as much memory as you allow it to. Some tabs (like a YouTube page) will use around 100 MB. Every Chromium tab gets its own process so you don't even have to update to a 64-bit OS (although Ubuntu and other 64-bit builds are available).
Last week I torrented about 2 GB of files and seeded them for a while, with no other applications open. Deluge kept the pieces in cache.
Other things that could benefit: compiling software, using large machine learning datasets (possibly with the new camera [soylentnews.org] they released), virtualization, running a server, NAS, or router, software-defined radio, video editing, image editing (GIMP). Or doing more of those things at the same time.
What doesn't need more memory? Emulating old games (RetroPie) or using it as a media player (LibreELEC). 2 GB is probably preferred over deprecated 1 GB.
Pricing is what I predicted it would be [soylentnews.org]. If you are using it constantly as a desktop computer, it's a worthwhile upgrade. If you are using multiple units for projects that definitely don't need the RAM, don't bother until an RPi5 comes out, perhaps in 2 years.
Because many laptops are now using soldered memory, it is rare to be able to find 8 GB that cheap. It has been segmented so that you may have to spend $200-$300 before you can even find 8 GB, and you can't upgrade yourself. Maybe RPi will help drive prices down or capacities up as it shifts millions of units with more RAM than devices four times as expensive. At the very least, it will have an effect on the SBC market.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]