the Raspberry Pi 3

• PROS

  Low price. Includes 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1. Improved performance over previous generation.

• CONS

  Requires lots of additional hardware to function as a full PC. Limited operating system selection. Software setup may prove challenging.

• BOTTOM LINE

  The introduction of wireless connectivity and a boost in performance over its previous iteration make the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B appropriate for a wider variety of projects—and it still costs just $35.

• SoC: Broadcom BCM2837 64-bit system-on-chip with four ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores clocked 1.2GHz
  CPU: 4X ARM Cortex-A53, 1.2GHz
  GPU: Broadcom VideoCore IV
  RAM: 1GB LPDDR2 (900MHz)
  Networking: 10/100 ethernet, 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless
  Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1 Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy
  Storage: microSD
  GPIO: 40-pin header, populated
  Ports: HDMI, 3.5mm analogue audio-video jack, 4X USB 2.0, ethernet, Camera Serial Interface (CSI), Display Serial Interface (DSI)

  The card-sized Raspberry Pi 3’s newfound power lies in a trio of upgrades: A new system-on-chip (SoC) with more potent graphics and computing capabilities, onboard 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, and onboard Bluetooth 4.1/Low Energy support.
  The new features seem insignificant on paper, but they add up to a serious usability boost in the real world—especially the onboard wireless capabilities, which just plain work out of the box with the default/recommended Raspbian operating system. Developing a Raspberry Pi-specific OS to work solely with Raspberry Pi hardware pays dividends in ease of use, it seems, especially since standard Linux installations are notorious for finicky wireless connectivity. The mere fact that integrated Wi-Fi exists is a huge step up from previous Raspberry Pi models, which required you either to pony up cash for a Wi-Fi adapter or hardwire your board via an ethernet connection.