Raspberry Pis were hard to find a bit during the pandemic, but the cheap system-on-a-chip computer is finally back in stock, so it’s time to get back to your projects. You can use a Raspberry Pi to build a basic computer, a custom retro game console, or even a weather station. The beauty is in how small, simple, and affordable Raspberry Pis are to work with—whenever a project calls for brains, a Raspberry Pi is usually the best answer. And thanks to Prime Day, you can get a starter kit at a pretty hefty discount.
You have a few options here depending on your budget and needs, but for ease of use, you’ll always want to make sure you have a few basics. Unless you have a specific use case in mind for it already, you don’t want to get your motherboard in the mail and find out there’s nothing you can do with it out of the box. For ease of use, be sure to get a kit with a power supply included, and preferably a case. A Micro SD card is a nice bonus, if you don’t have any spares laying around, and you may want a heatsink or fan based on how hard you intend to push the little computer.
With that in mind, the cheapest deal I could find at the moment was for the Raspberry Pi Zero W, with a kit containing all the essentials on sale for $24 (down from $50). This is a smaller, older, and somewhat weaker Raspberry Pi, so it’s best for lighter projects. Still, its inclusion of Wi-Fi 4 allows it some basic connectivity that you could use to offset processing elsewhere.
For something stronger, this $128 Raspberry Pi 5 starter kit (down from $160) gives you everything you need to get started, including a case with a fan and even a 128GB Samsung EVO+ Micro SD card. The Raspberry Pi 5 is the current top-of-the-line, making it better for more demanding projects.
Finally, there’s the slightly cheaper Raspberry Pi 4, which is still respectable when it comes to specs. This kit is discounted to $120 from $140, and is the one I use at home. I used it to make a Steam in-home-streaming box before I got my Steam Deck, and it worked great for playing Final Fantasy IX, a game that has become a favorite of mine.
