Meet Raspberry Pi’s new Zero 2 W: Same small footprint, five times the power

Six years after first releasing its extremely low-cost Raspberry Pi Zero, the Foundation is now out with an even more capable device. Stepping up from the $5 price tag of old, you can get all of the details on whether the new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is worth its $15 price tag down below.

Raspberry launches new Pi Zero 2 W

This time around, the Raspberry Pi Foundation isn’t mixing anything up with the actual footprint of the new Zero 2 W. There’s still the ultra-compact form factor that delivers all of the same tinkering and prototyping prowess as its predecessors, just with more power.

As for those actual specs, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W arrives with the same Broadcom BCM2710A1 SoC die you’ll find on the larger and more capable Raspberry Pi 3. So while not the latest from what the Foundation is pumping out, you’re looking at previous-generation flagship specs (if you can even call a $35 computer flagship in the first place) in a much smaller package.

Though compared to the original Pi Zero, the new 2 W really stands out. That 1GHz processor backed by 512MB of SDRAM manages to pull off five times the performance as you’d have found six years ago. And fitting for the W nomenclature we’ve come to expect, the wireless LAN gives you 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n connectivity without needing an external dongle.

Connectivity remains the same otherwise, with a mini-HDMI socket capable of 1080p60 video output alongside a pair of micro USB ports for both power and data. Then there’s the classic 40 pin GPIO header for wiring up all kinds of sensors and peripherals.

Here’s a full rundown of the specs:

• Broadcom BCM2710A1, quad-core 64-bit SoC (Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1GHz)
• 512MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• 2.4GHz IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE
• 1 × USB 2.0 interface with OTG
• HAT-compatible 40 pin I/O header footprint
• MicroSD card slot
• Mini HDMI port
• Composite video and reset pin solder points
• CSI-2 camera connector
• H.264, MPEG-4 decode (1080p30); H.264 encode (1080p30)
• OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics

Now available for $15

Now available for purchase, the new Pi Zero 2 W arrives with a $15 price tag. In addition to the new miniature computer itself, there is also a companion Raspberry Pi Micro USB Power Supply that clocks in at $8. Both can be purchased from partners like CanaKit, Pi Shop US, Adafruit, and more.

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