SparkFun Raspberry Pi 3 A+

How does a more compact and more economic Raspberry Pi sound to you? The Raspberry Pi 3 A+ is here and, like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, it boasts a 64-bit quad core processor running at 1.4GHz, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 4.2/BLE. The RPi3 A+ is still equipped with the same 64-bit processor as the B+ version but has removed the Ethernet connector and three of the USB ports (leaving you with just one). It still also has the same 2x20 GPIO header and CSI/DSI connectors, making it usable with all of your existing HATs, cameras, and other peripheries. This single-board computer is capable of many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word processing and playing high-definition video and games. It can run several flavors of Linux and is being used to teach kids all over the world how to program� Oh yeah, and it does all that for about $30.

As mentioned before, the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ features the Broadcom BCM2837, an ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit Quad Core Processor System-on-Chip operating at 1.4GHz, making it both small AND powerful. Since the A+ version only has a single USB port you may want to add more, you can still use a USB hub to provide enough connectivity for a mouse, keyboard, or anything else that you feel the RPi needs. Keep in mind, it is recommended that you use a powered hub so as not to overtax the onboard voltage regulator.

Powering the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ is easy: just plug any 5V/2.5A USB power supply into the microUSB port. There�s no power button, so the RPi will begin to boot as soon as power is applied. To turn it off, simply shut down the Pi 3 A+, then remove power.

On top of all that, the low-level peripherals on the RPi make it great for hardware hacking. The 0.1" spaced 40-pin GPIO header on the RPi gives you access to 27 GPIO, UART, I²C, SPI, as well as 3.3 and 5V sources. Each pin on the GPIO header is identical to its predecessor. If you are planning to run a NOOBS card with the RPi3 A+ make sure that it is up to date with the latest version!

Features:

• Processor: Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 64-bit SoC @ 1.4â��GHz
• Memory: 512MB LPDDR2 SDRAM
• Connectivity: 2.4â��GHz and 5â��GHz IEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2/BLE
• Access: Extended 40-pin GPIO header
• Video & sound: 1 Ã� full size HDMI
  • MIPI DSI display port
  • MIPI CSI camera port
  • 4 pole stereo output and composite video port
• Multimedia: H.264, MPEG-4 decode (1080p30); H.264 encode (1080p30); OpenGL ES 1.1, 2.0 graphics
• SD card support: Micro SD format for loading operating system and data storage
• Input power: 5â��V/2.5â��A DC via micro USB connector, 5â��V DC via GPIO header
• Production lifetime: The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ will remain in production until at least January 2023

Documents:

• Product Brief
• Mechanical Drawing
• Schematic
• NOOBS Download
• Pi Raspbian and DOOM Tutorial
• Raspberry Pi Foundation
• Raspberry Pi Resource Page

Videos