This computer is the size of a credit card

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is a computer the size of a credit card.

The Raspberry Pi 4 is a "computer the size of a credit card" that might be capable of replacing your desktop, said Scott Gilbertson at Wired. It's the fourth iteration of the Raspberry Pi, which was first released in 2012 as a bare circuit board, "intended as one part educational device, one part tinkering tool." But it became a phenomenon "used to power everything from scaled-down Mars rovers" to school science experiments, and spawned countless imitators.

The new Pi 4 is a grown-up version of the "tinkerer's toy." It's three times faster and comes with 4 GB of RAM, four times the memory of previous versions. The Pi 4 is still not in the same league as the latest desktops. But it's priced at just $55, and "if your computing needs are roughly on par with PC processing speeds from around 2012," the Pi 4 might be all you need to ditch the desktop.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here: