Raspberry Pi 3 B+ vs 3 B
Compared to the 3B, although it only adds a ‘+’, there are many technological elements integrated, such as the trending 5G Wi-Fi, Bluetooth upgrades, SoC upgrades, reduced power consumption, and the addition of POE (Power Over Ethernet), which means further performance improvements. Of course, it hasn’t reached the level of upgrading a bicycle to a motorcycle, but creating this microcomputer within the existing technological context is no easy feat. I made a comparison, with the yellow background indicating the different features of the two:
First, the CPU frequency has been upgraded. Additionally, improvements have been made in Bluetooth, network interfaces, and power consumption. The two features that attract me the most are the increase of 5G Wi-Fi and the POE power supply method. Roger Thornton and Eben Upton also mentioned these points in the video.
The bandwidth has increased from 100MB to 250MB~300MB, which means that when you develop projects that rely on the web server and other network-dependent applications, the speed will be much faster. Many people may not understand what POE (Power Over Ethernet) technology is; it is actually widely applied, such as cameras that only need one network cable to combine network and power without additional power devices. My home Wi-Fi receiver also uses POE. With this, we will have less wiring work when developing projects, especially for stand-alone projects, which will be much more convenient.
The size of the 3B+ remains the same, credit card size. The CPU heat dissipation has been addressed; before the update, doing CPU-intensive tasks would lead to concentrated heat on the CPU, which was very noticeable in previous web server projects and made them quite sluggish. However, after this improvement, I believe it will be much better. The Wi-Fi chip now has the Raspberry Pi logo on it, making it look more aesthetic and upscale. In the upper right corner, there are two more jumper caps for switching power supply methods.
In summary, the release of the 3B+ can be summarized in two English words: stronger and faster. The key is that at the same price of $35, anyone would choose the 3B Plus.
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Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ product brief
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Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ mechanical drawing
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Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ schematic diagrams
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_over_Ethernet
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https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-b-plus/
