Raspberry Pi500+ launched.
September 2025 November 2020 saw the launch of the Pi400, a computer in a keyboard which made my Pi4 8Gb redundant and now almost five years later this new Pi500+ is replacing my Pi5 8Gb.
I bought my Pi5 on its announcement date, 28th September 2024, but soon after delivery I found it was a bit of a step back from the usability of the Pi400 so I kept using the Pi400 for a further six months. Only on the launch of the NVMe M.2 HAT+ that I took it out the drawer to give it a second go. This time I could see the improved specification could be useful albeit with the loss of some software functionality.
I was initially excited about the launch of the Pi500 but it wasn't a big enough step in specification for be to buy it although I would have liked to return to the 'computer in a keyboard' format. Now on 25th September 2025 the Pi500+ has been launched and it's promise of more memory, fancy keyboard and internal NMVe M.2 drive has presuaded me to order it.
A few months ago I came up against the limitations of 8Gb of RAM when using EasyEda Pro to design v2.0 of the Electron Clone - I had to resort to using a PC! I did consider buying the Pi5 16Gb on its launch day but I held back as it was a big investment for just an increase in RAM. I'm glad I did as this new PI500+ looks exactly what I've been waiting for.
So it's goodbye Pi5 and hello Pi500+ (I'll re-purpose the Pi5 to upgrade my Pi4 LibreElec Media Centre).
The unpacking:
Comparing the look of the Pi400 to the Pi500+, it's slightly longer and thicker, the key labelling is not as clear to read but maybe if it's lite up it might help.
At first the idea of clackity keys remind me of the IBM XT keyboard from the 1980's but these keys are far more subtle than that and have a very good feel and sound.
I've been playing with the key back lights and found that red gives the best contrast across the whole keyboard. The font on the keys is far too small to make them easily readable, the Pi400 has much clearer legends.
It seems to be quite responsive when editing the Electron Clone PCB design so the extra memory has helped.
What drew me to the Pi500+ was it having the internal ssd, the extra memory and that very nice form factor - an excellent package.
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