However, if you use your Raspberry Pi to tinker with electronics, host a small home server or run a lightweight instance of Linux, the difference between 8 and 16 GB will be far from decisive. In these scenarios, the price gap could seem disproportionate.
For general public use, a 4 or 8 GB Raspberry Pi 5 remains more than sufficient for basic office work, browsing the Web (even with several tabs) and managing light multimedia. Preliminary tests indicate that CPU performance does not change radically between the different versions: the gain mainly comes from memory capacity and multitasking potential.
The gradual increase in Raspberry Pi prices raises questions about the future positioning of the range. At $120, it’s no longer the $35 computer of old, designed for learning to program and complete small projects inexpensively. The foundation, however, seems to justify this increase by the desire to satisfy much more varied and advanced needs, ranging from compact servers to AI applications.
The fact remains that this 16 GB Raspberry Pi 5 remains incredibly modular and complete. The technical support, the ecosystem of additional modules, the maker communities and the software availability still make it a safe bet for anyone looking for a versatile and scalable platform. Ultimately, it all depends on your objectives: if you dream of pushing the machine to its limits or setting up an ambitious project (artificial intelligence, virtualization, etc.), then these 16 GB could be a game-changer.
