Review: Raspberry Pi 5

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A Raspberry Pi 5 is a single‑board computer designed to make computing and programming accessible to everyone. It’s about the size of a credit card but functions like a real PC – it has USB ports, HDMI output, networking, and even GPIO pins for electronics projects.

It is developed in the UK by Raspberry Pi Holdings, and the devices are widely used in education, hobby electronics, robotics, home automation, and even industrial automation.

What you can use it for?

Raspberry Pi 5 common uses include:

you can use it as you would a real PC, since an official Raspberry Pi OS functions similar to Windows or MacOS
programming (Python, JavaScript, C, etc.)
robotics and electronics projects via GPIO pins
smart home systems
retro gaming consoles
home servers (file server, media server, VPN)
IoT devices

Specs

Raspberry Pi 5 packs quite a punch for its size:

Broadcom BCM2712 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU
VideoCore VII GPU
1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of RAM
Dual 4Kp60 HDMI display output
Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet networking
Bluetooth 5.0
microSD card slot for the operating system
4x USB ports
2 × 4-lane MIPI camera/display port
PCIe 2.0 interface for fast peripherals
40-pin header
5V/5A DC power via USB-C, with Power Delivery support
40-pin GPIO header to interact with the outside world

Physical overview

The Raspberry Pi board is about the size of a credit card (85.0 mm or 3.35, 56.0 mm or 2.20 in). Here is an overview of main components:

Power button to turn the device on or off.
PCI Express port to connect peripherals such as NVMe SSDs
WiFi/Bluetooth module
GPIO pins to connect electronics
BCM2712 CPU
RAM
I/O controller
2x USB 2.0 ports
2x USB 3.0 ports
Gigabit Ethernet port
MIPI DSI/CSI connector for a camera
second MIPI DSI/CSI connector
micro HDMI port for a monitor
second micro HDMI port
USB-C charging port

Raspberry Pi 5 power supply

You can power your Raspberry Pi 5 with a 5V mobile phone charger with USB-C, however it is recommended to use the official Raspberry Pi 27W USB-C Power Supply. This power supply delivers 5.1V, 5A. It supports USB PD (Power Delivery) in order to increase the USB current limit automatically from the default 600mA to 1.6A, so you can provide extra power for devices connected to the four Type A USB ports.

Power supply specs:

Input: 100- 240VAC
Output: 5.1V, 5A; 9V, 3A; 12V, 2.25A; 15V, 1.8A (Power Delivery)
Connector: USB-C
Cable: 1.2m 17AWG, white or black
Plug types: • US, Canada (type A)
• Europe (type C)
• India (type D)
• UK (type G)
• Australia, New Zealand (type I)

Raspberry Pi operating system

There is a specialized version of a Debian Linux distribution developed specifically for Raspberry Pi called Raspberry Pi OS. Like any other operating system, it has a GUI, office desktop application, a browser to surf the Internet…

Raspberry Pi can also run a variety of other Linux-based distros like Ubuntu or Armbian.

Install Raspberry Pi OS

To install Raspberry Pi OS you need a Windows, macOS, or Linux, a microSD card of at least 16 GB and an USB card reader. The software you install on your PC is called Raspberry Pi Imager and it is used to install the OS onto an micro SD card. When the process is complete, you simply transfer the micro SD card to your Pi.

Buy Now

You can get your Raspberry Pi 5 here. The power supply (US plug) is available here. Most of the micro SD card will do, just make sure it’s at least Class 10: buy one here. To install Raspberry Pi OS, you will need an USB card reader.