Raspberry Pi Model A goes on sale in Europe for just £19

THE EAGERLY AWAITED Raspberry Pi Model A computer has gone on sale in the UK for £19.33.

The diminutive Raspberry Pi computer was set to have two SKUs, however the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the higher specification Model B unit almost a year ago. Now the foundation has brought the even cheaper Raspberry Pi Model A to market with RS Components selling the unit for £19.33 or $25, or you can get it for 50 pence cheaper at £18.88 from CPC.

The Raspberry Pi Model A has only 256MB of RAM, which is half of what the Model B has, but given that the original Model B also had the same amount of RAM and few complained it doesn't seem to be much of a downgrade. The Raspberry Pi Foundation said that by stripping down other components it has managed to cut the power consumption, so the Model A uses just a third of the power compared to the Model B.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation said that the first batch of Model A computers will be available only in Europe, however RS customers in the US can place orders but will have to wait a while.

Eben Upton of the Raspberry Pi Foundation said, "We're really pleased to finally be able to offer the Model A board. The lower power consumption and reduced height make it a great fit for so many of the projects that people are building with their Pis; and we're excited to be able to make access to computing available at the $25 price we have been aiming at since we incorporated The Raspberry Pi Foundation as a charity. This is the realisation of our long-standing ambition to provide the world with a $25 computer."

RS Components confirmed the Raspberry Pi Foundation's statement about shipping outside Europe, saying that there might be delays, but added that the delay in the US is due to "final compliance certification". µ