Available now for $200, the Raspberry Pi 500 Plus is considerably more expensive than the Raspberry Pi 500 that’s still available for $90, but the upgrades aren’t just limited to expanded storage. Its quad-core ARM Cortex-A76 processor is now paired with 16GB of LPDDR4x-4267 RAM (up from 8GB last year), and the 500 Plus should offer a more enjoyable typing experience for keyboard aficionados.
It now features Gateron KS-33 Blue mechanical switches and custom-designed low-profile keycaps (which are replaceable) with a spray-painted finish that has also been laser etched to allow newly added programmable RGB lighting to shine through. Inside the 500 Plus, you’ll also find an RP2040 microcontroller running the QMK open source firmware.
Other specs carried over from the standard Raspberry Pi 500 computer keyboard include support for Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth, a gigabit Ethernet port, two micro HDMI ports, three USB-A ports, and a single USB-C port for power. It doesn’t come with video cables, a power supply, or a mouse, but Raspberry Pi also sells a “Desktop Kit” version of the 500 Plus for $220 with everything you need to power the computer and connect it to a screen.
