Single board computers are getting more and more powerful, as exemplified by last year’s Pine A64. The Raspberry Pi Foundation keeps up with the times with the third version of its extremely popular computer. The Raspberry Pi 3 has significant improvements over the Raspberry Pi 2 but with the same price tag.
The Pi 3 has a new system-on-a-chip, the Broadcom BCM2837. It has a quad-core processor running at 1.2GHz, which helps make the Pi 3 up to 60% more powerful than the Pi 2, and up to 10 times more powerful than the original Pi. Equally noteworthy are the built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 radios, making the Pi 3 perfect for networked projects.
The Pi 3 still works with 2.0A power adapters, but the Raspberry Pi Foundation recommends that you switch to 2.5A if you have more power hungry devices connected to the computer. You can pre-order the Pi 3 from Element 14 for $35 (USD).