It's certainly a nice jump up in specs and it does open up the possibilities for even more distros!


Let’s get the good stuff out of the way above the fold. Raspberry Pi 2 is now on sale for $35 (the same price as the existing Model B+), featuring:

A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU (~6x performance)
1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)
Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1
Because it has an ARMv7 processor, it can run the full range of ARM GNU/Linux distributions, including Snappy Ubuntu Core, as well as*Microsoft Windows 10.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-2-on-sale/


I am a little peeved though, I upgraded to the Model B+ at Christmas, if only they had given us some prior warning of a new model ahead of release.

It does it, indeed! https://dev.windows.com/en-us/featur...errypi2support

Great news that they are now using ARM v7 ISA. That means that real Debian can be used instead of Raspbian so hopefully we should see more packages focused on embedded Linux making their way back into mainline Debian. With an RPi 2 device tree, I'll be able to pop my N900 Debian SD card into it and use the same Debian installation with an HD display and a full keyboard and mouse.

Just ordered one of these beauties here in the UK. Anyone know of possibilities of actually hooking up the n900 innards onto the Pi2? (Got a broken usb on mine you see ) It would be great to see my old maemo 5 boot up on the Pi2 on my TV

AND perhaps even use the n900 keyboard and screen - selotape (ok not really selotape ) it onto the Pi and use it as a "portable" computer with it all running off the battery, It would be like some mega weird tablet lol -Just an idea at the moment lol. But maybe a possible project I will make myself do.

widows for iot not regular windows to be clear

Interesting.

Now the question isn't whether to buy or not, it is "what will I do with it once I have it" ???

Oh, just three months after I bought the B+.

The question what to do with it has dozens of answers - I for one am using it as a multimedia center and couldn't be happier with it. The performance is fine on the B+, but in case I decide to go for the 2, does anyone know what is the difference in power consumption?
I measured that an always running (let's say playing video) B+ should cost around $6 per year with my power provider. I've read that this new model should consume more, though.

EDIT: Sorry pichlo, edited the post to add the consumption period just between you read and quoted it, so i's already in your quote

Per day? Week? Decade?

EDIT:
Blind me, did not notice your edit

EDIT 2:
Wow, is energy so pricey in CZ? Using Oblomow's figures below, I calculated that running 24/7 at full 2.43W power consumes about 21.3kWh per year. With my energy provider, that costs about £3.

According to this german article, power consumption is the same at idle (1.5W), slightly higher at full single-core-load ( 1.75W vs. 1.6W for the B+), and about 1W higher at full quad core load (2.43W). But keep in mind the new CPU is ~1.5x faster in single task benchmarks, so I'd guess for the same task their power consumption will be equal, or even slightly less for the 2, if you are overclocking your B+.

Popcorntime?