Note: We recommend getting the Raspberry Pi Zero with presoldered headers as bad soldering might damage the board and it is NOT under warranty.
Raspberry Pi Zero W
We have been carrying Raspberry Pi Zero W (Wireless) since 2017 and it is very useful for makers and students. It is a super low-cost single-board computer. It is cheaper than any official Arduino controller board with a 32-bit processor, and it comes with WiFi and Bluetooth. The new Raspberry Pi Zero W offers all the benefits of the Pi Zero v1.3 but with one big difference – built-in Wireless (WiFi and Bluetooth)! More specifically, this giant upgrade is the addition of a BCM43143 WiFi chip built-in to your Raspberry Pi Zero – just like the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B! Let's see the introduction from the Raspberry Pi Magazine team:
With BCM 2835 (32-bit ARM-based processor) SoC running at 1GHz, the Raspberry Pi Zero is faster than Raspberry Pi 1. With mini-HDMI, micro-B OTG USB, and the same 40-pin GPIO it still has great connectivity although you'll probably need some accessories to help you hook it up to your existing devices. The best part about all this is that the Pi Zero W keeps the same shape, connectors, and mounting holes as the Pi Zero v1.3. 99% of cases and accessories will still be fully compatible with both the Pi Zero W and v1.3 - though if you have a case with a metal top there might be some WiFi connectivity difficulties.
Soldering the 40-pin headers onto Pi Zero W is not everyone's favorite task, especially beginners. Some might not have the right tools to do it. And here you are the Raspberry Pi Zero WH, pre-soldered with 2x20 header pins at the factory directly from Raspberry Pi, UK. This will help in hardware prototyping and digital making, stacking with HAT and electronic parts.
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, the most significant upgrade is the CPU. The new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W comes with a Quad-core, 64-bit, Cortex-A53 CPU, clocked at 1 GHz. At its heart is a Raspberry Pi RP3A0 system-in-package (SiP), integrating a Broadcom BCM2710A1 die with 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM.
The new CPU+RAM package on Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is from the Raspberry Pi engineering team, to understand more about the integration and why they choose wire-bonding instead of Package on Package (PoP) on the original Raspberry Pi Zero/W/WH, check out the post by Eben Upton (CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading).
RP3A0 System-in-Package (SiP), by Raspberry Pi Blog Post
There is a slight improvement in the wireless specification, the Bluetooth on Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is upgraded to 4.2 from 4.1 on its pre-successor. Of course, it still preserves the IEEE 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and BLE. Besides the upgrade of Bluetooth specifications, the wireless circuitry is also shielded with a metal case for better RF compliance. Let's compare the new Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with its pre-successor, Raspberry Pi Zero W:
Those highlighted in Blue Color texts are the major changes. From a single-core, 32-bit CPU in the original Raspberry Pi Zero W, we now get a Quad-core, 64-bit CPU! With this upgrade alone, there is a tremendous improvement. Booting into Raspberry Pi OS desktop GUI is 3X faster than the Raspberry Pi Zero W board. From our testing, using the 32GB MakerDisk preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W boots into GUI just within ~20 seconds while the earlier Raspberry Pi Zero W takes ~70 seconds. For single-threaded performance, it is 40% faster than earlier versions too. For multi-threaded, the quad-core performance is 5.2x faster than the single-core CPU.
If you are a Raspberry Pi user, you might have noticed the Quad-core, 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 CPU is also on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B:
And even it comes with a quad-core processor, the maximum power is still way
below 5W, or
below 1A of current. During idle (power up without doing anything), it consumes just 0.62W, which is just 124mA at 5V. Even under stress tests with active WiFi, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W consumes only 2.12W. That is only 424mA at 5V, still below 2.5W! Do check out the
post by Jeff Gerling on his review of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W that also produces this power consumption chart:
Power Consumption Chart by Jeff Gerling
With a careful look, we notice the PCB antenna on Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W has been improved to be similar to the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B's PCB antenna! This again will improve the wireless connectivity and data rate.
Thanks to Jeff Gerling, we get to know the WiFi speed improvement. This is the WiFi speed comparison by Jeff in his review of Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W:
WiFi and Wired Speed Comparison of Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W vs Zero W, by Jeff Gerling
What Will You Need to Get Started?
If you are new to Raspberry Pi Zero, here are our recommendations for the existing user, maker, and engineer.
- Basic Kit:
- Comes with a mini HDMI adapter to use with a standard (full-size) HDMI cable.
- To start using the Raspberry Pi Zero, you will most likely need a USB keyboard (at minimum), so this is where the USB OTG adapter cable comes in handy.
- To save you time downloading the Operating System and loading it into the microSD, the MakerDisk microSD card comes with Raspberry Pi OS preloaded.
- Essential Kit:
- USB Micro B Cable, for data or power of Raspberry Pi Zero WH.
- To save you time downloading the Operating System and loading it into the microSD, the MakerDisk microSD card comes with Raspberry Pi OS preloaded.
Warranty Period: 12 months
International
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