It has been over four years since the release of the Raspberry Pi 4, and in that time a lot has changed in the maker board and single-board computer landscape. For the Raspberry Pi Foundation there were struggles with worldwide demand and production capacity brought on by the global pandemic starting in 2020, and plenty of new competitors came to the scene to offer ready to order alternatives to the venerable RPi 4. Today however the production woes have been assuaged and a new generation of Raspberry Pi is here; the Raspberry Pi 5.

Raspberry Pi 5 is being announced in advance of availability unlike every prior RPi device launch. Pre-orders are open with many of the listed Approved Resellers on RPi's website starting today but unit shipments aren't expected until near the end of October 2023. As part of this pre-order scheme, RPi Foundation is withholding pre-orders from bulk customers and will be dealing in single-unit sales for individuals until at least the end of the year, as well as running some promotions with The MagPi and HackSpace magazines to give priority access to their subscribers. Genuinely nice to see, considering how hard it was to obtain a Pi 4 for the average Joe over the last couple years. The two announced prices for the RPi 5 are $60 USD for the 4 GB variant, and $80 USD for the 8 GB variant; or about $5 USD more than current reseller pricing on comparable configurations of the Raspberry Pi 4.The Raspberry Pi 5 incorporates entirely new silicon with improvements made to nearly every aspect of the board. Below, Raspberry Pi Foundation provides a list of key features that paint the broad strokes of all the changes made to the RPi 5:

• Broadcom BCM2712 2.4 GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU (512 KB per-core L2, 2 MB shared L3)
• VideoCore VII GPU, supporting OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.2
• Dual 4Kp60 HDMI display output
• 4Kp60 HEVC decoder
• LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM
• Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 5.0 / Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
• High-speed microSD card interface with SDR104 mode support
• 2 × USB 3.0 ports, supporting simultaneous 5 Gbps operation
• 2 × USB 2.0 ports
• Gigabit Ethernet, with PoE+ support (requires separate PoE+ HAT, coming soon)
• 2 × 4-lane MIPI camera/display transceivers
• PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals
• Raspberry Pi standard 40-pin GPIO header
• Real-time clock (RTC)
• Power button

With a new board comes a new case. The RPi 5 has an updated three-piece plastic case with active cooling which allows for installing the RPi 5 with an SD card installed, stacking multiple cases with the top plate removed, and allows for mounting HATs on top of the case above the fan via GPIO header extenstions and strategically placed holes though the case shell. This new case will cost $10 USD. While the RPi Foundation clarifies that no cooling is required for the RPi 5 to operate, there is a new $5 USD active cooler which mounts to the RPi 5 via the added through-hole cooler mounts. This cooler includes a radial blower fan which is claimed to be chosen for low-noise operation, with the added note that the cooler is "somewhat superior [to the case], making it particularly suitable for overclockers."The Raspberry Pi 5 hosts many hardware changes and even some compatibility breaking new interfaces; however, the RPi Foundation has headed off the possible issues this may cause for users with a slew of new I/O accessories to address these changes. First, due to the new high density "mini" MIPI connectors RPi 5 is launching with multiple lengths of adapters to allow the use of existing "standard" MIPI devices. These adapter ribbon cables come in 200 mm, 300 mm, and 500 mm lengths and cost $1, $2, and $3 USD respectively. Alongside these are a new POE+ HAT adapter launching in 2024 that supports the relocated PoE header.A rather exciting change comes from the addition of PCI Express 2.0 on the Rasberry Pi 5, and the expansion options for "fast peripherals" this opens up. To take advantage of this, a pair of mechanical HAT adapters for M.2 devices and accessories will be launching in 2024. These allow for the use of standard 2230 and 2242 devices such as NVMe SSDs, third party WWAN, WLAN, and BLE adapters. Presumably M.2 breakout adapters could also work, such as those that split to USB or SATA, but we'll have to wait for the adapters to test. The first of the two adapters (like the prototype pictured below) supports so-called "larger devices" while the second adapter will follow the L-shape configuration of the PoE+ HAT and allow for M.2 devices to fit within the plastic case accessory.With increased performance sometimes comes (slightly) increased power draw, and Raspberry Pi 5 can pull as much as 50% more power than the Raspberry Pi 4 in demanding tasks. Because of this, and because of enthusiasts that will want to overclock, a new $12 USD 27 W USB-C power adapter will be made available. RPi Foundation is quick to point out that the RPi 5 does not need this increased power to function, and the 15 W power adapter will still work. However, with the 15 W power adapter the RPi 5 will limit downstream USB current to 600 mA maximum to ensure that it has ample headroom for very demanding tasks that might have the board pulling its maximum power rating. This USB current limit can still be disabled by the user when using the 15 W power adapter, and RPi Foundation says, "Raspberry Pi 5 functions perfectly well with typical configurations of higher-power USB devices, and all but the most pathological workloads."Finally with the inclusion of a real-time clock in the Raspberry Pi 5, an RTC battery will be made available for a $5 USD surcharge. Frankly I feel like this should come with the standard kit, but at least it's available as a first-party accessory. (Though wiring up your own with some spare wire, a 2-wire JST plug, 3 V coin-cell, and some heat-shrink isn't out of the question.)If reading all that wasn't on your agenda today, you're in luck. Raspberry Pi Foundation's Eben Upton hosted an excellent short video overview of the new Raspberry Pi 5 just for you. Further blog posts talking about the Raspberry Pi 5 will be posted and linked to on the Raspberry Pi 5 main page in the coming weeks.