Raspberry Pi Model A+ Board Features a 40-pin GPIO Connector, a micro SD slot, and Improved Power Management

After the Raspberry Pi foundation officially announced Raspberry Pi Model B+ board, it was natural to expect a Model A+ to come soon after. Based on a webpage on Element14 (now down), an update of the cheapest version of the Raspberry Pi could get announced very soon, maybe as soon as Monday. It has specifications very similar to Model A, but replaces the 26-pin GPIO connector, by a 40-pin connector, a micro SD slot takes the place of a full-sized SD slot, and power management has been improved so that it’s more efficient, and can support “power hungry” USB devices. [Update: It’s now officially announced as planned]

I’ve drawn a comparison table between the latest two boards: Model B+ vs Model A+.

	Raspberry Pi Model B+	Raspberry Pi Model A+
SoC	Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 processor @ 700MHz with VideoCore IV GPU
System Memory	512 MB (PoP)	256 MB (PoP)
Storage	micro SD card slot
AV Output	HDMI and 3.5 mm AV jack
Connectivity	10/100M Ethernet	N/A
USB	4x USB 2.0 host port + micro USB port	1x USB 2.0 host port + micro USB port
Expansion	40-pin header for GPIO CSI interface DSI interface
Power	5V via micro USB port
Power Consumption	600 mA to 1.8 A @ 5V	TBD but lower
Dimensions	85 x 56 mm	65 x 56 mm
Price	$35	$20

Beside the price Model A+ should also have lower power consumption, but Element14 simply mentions “A+ board now uses less power (600mA) than the Model A Board (750mA) when running.”, but this conflicts with R-Pi B+ page listed Model B+ drawing 600 mA, against Model B 750 mA, and model A drawing the same 600 mA. So it’s either a mistake, or a different power measurement scenario. Model A+ board is also smaller than Model B+, and based on a different PCB.

~~Price has not been announced yet, but I fully expect it to still cost $25 but some now deleted pages listed it for $20. We should know more in the next few days.~~
Raspberry Pi Model A+ can be purchased for $20 on MCM Electronics or Farnell/element14/Newark.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.