The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is a trimmed down and cheaper version of the powerful Pi 3 Model B+, however both are powered by the same processor, bluetooth capacity, Wi-Fi, among other things. Some of the key differences include RAM and the number of ports. Also notable, is that the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is $10 (R 150) cheaper than the Pi Model B+.
The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ has been priced at $25 (approximately R 375) and is currently available on its website. The company has incorporated most of the upgrades that were a part of the powerful Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. It is powered by the same 1.4GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU (Broadcom BCM2837B0) and features support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, alongside Bluetooth 4.2.
Meanwhile, the company seems to have cut some corners in the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ in an attempt to bring down its price from the premium Model B+. The new Raspberry Pi 3 model now lacks an Ethernet port and instead of four USB 2.0 ports, there is only one. However, most importantly, the new Raspberry Pi 3 model A+ comes with only 512MB of RAM, while the previous variant arrived at 1GB of RAM.
The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ delivers dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless connectivity,. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ also supports Bluetooth 4.2, and Bluetooth Low Energy making it easier to create IoT hubs or in interaction with other devices in smart homes.
The Pi 3 Model A+ measures 65×6.5mm and comes with a 40-pin GPIO header, the same as its 2014 model.
