Raspberry Pi 5 gets a superpowered 16GB model for the first time

How much RAM do you need? It’s a common question, but one that doesn’t always have a straightforward answer. The Raspberry Pi, a cheap all-in-one system-on-a-chip for hobbyists, typically makes do with less RAM than conventional PCs, but a new 16GB version of the Pi 5 has come to give it a serious memory upgrade.

The Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of onboard DDR4 RAM is $120, more than double the price of the base 2GB model. (It’s also available in the original 4GB configuration for $60 and 8GB for $80.) But though that may sound pricey for a Raspberry Pi with no extra hardware, it’s reasonable considering the components. If we assume a $20 jump for every 4GB of memory, it lines right up. The new 16GB version is on sale right now at PiShop.us and other vendors.

But 16 gigs is a lot for a Raspberry Pi, more than any other existing model produced thus far — and at $120, it now sits within striking distance of at least some mini PC models, which, unlike the Pi, come with storage and an operating system out of the box.

So, what’s the reasoning behind the upgrade? According to Raspberry Pi CEO Ebon Upton, it’s to make room in the memory for “heavyweight distributions like Ubuntu” and more demanding applications such as computational fluid dynamics and (sigh) large language AI models. Micron was able to supply the Raspberry Pi company with the necessary components, and here we are.

It’s worth pointing out that it’s very possible to run an Arm-based version of Windows on a Raspberry Pi, even the rather heavy Windows 11 — and if you’re going to do that, my personal take is that 16GB should be the minimum for the latest versions of the OS. That makes the new 16GB version of the Pi an easy pick if you’re trying to build a Windows PC that’s as tiny and efficient as possible on a budget.