Raspberry Pi 2 Unboxing + What's new!

Unboxing the updated Raspberry Pi, the Raspberry Pi 2

Hi guys! So my Raspberry Pi 2 arrived a few weeks ago, and instead of just leaving it to collect dust, I thought I would unbox it for you guys! I also dug out my old model B so could compare (visually). 

If you are interested in picking up a Raspberry Pi 2 for yourself, you can purchase them from Amazon here - Raspberry Pi 2 Board

Before we begin though, here are some key improvements/differences from the model B+:

• The RPI2 uses an ARMv7 quad-core processor clocked at 900mhz. Compared to the single-core ARMv6 700mhz processor on the B+, the RPI2 is a crazy beast, capable of running up to 6x faster than the processor in the B+!!! AND you are able to overclock it! So much power….. :)
• The RPI2 has double the RAM of the B+, featuring 1GB of RAM running at 450mhz, which is slightly faster than that of the B+. Because of the extra ram, a new chip has been added to the bottom of the board (picture below), but it is still compatible with all existing B+ accessories! Yay :)
• Thanks to the new ARMv7 core, the RPI2 can now run not only Raspbian (and most of the other distros that were previously available), but also Ubuntu Snappy Core, a lighter version of Ubuntu with support for ARM processors, and even Windows 10!!!

Those are really the only key differences between the RPI2 and the RPI B+. Most of the other things have been kept the same. There are still 4 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, 40 GPIO pins, micro USB power etc. And the price is the same as that of the B+!!! More power for the same price = awesome! But now, onto the unboxing!

Inside the (pretty funky looking!) box, we get our RPI2, along with the Quick Start manual.
Note that the RPI2 came in an anti-static bag, but I took it out.

As you can see, the Raspberry Pi 2 looks basically identical to the B+, at least from the top.

    

Finally, a difference! Here you can clearly see the RAM chip on the bottom of the board.
Apart from the addition of that chip though, no real difference.

Finally, here is a side-by-side picture of the Pi2 and the model B.
Basically just a visual comparison

As you can see, most of the improvements are under the hood kinda things, with no additional physical features being added this revision. Which is great actually, because as I said briefly before, the Raspberry Pi 2 is compatible with all existing B+ accessories!

Before I end this post, I would just like to say that the manual is a really great addition to the product! And it's pretty big! like, over 120 pages big! Although, there are only 6 pages of… stuff, and then that gets translated into 15 languages! A really awesome addition! It only contains basic information such as plugging in stuff, getting it setup, safety etc, but definitely very helpful for beginners!

Thanks for reading this! Stay tuned for more Raspberry Pi action, and feel free to ask me any questions in the comments! Thanks! :)