RPi Buying Guide

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This entry provides advice on buying the Raspberry Pi.

* For help with buying other hardware, see RPi Hardware Basic Setup 

* For advice on setting up your own SD card, see RPi Beginners.

1st Production Run & Release

 * 1) The foundation are building an initial run of 10,000 Model-B units.
 * 2) Announced: 10th Jan 2012 (estimated build time of 3-5weeks)
 * 3) Indications are that the units will be sold directly from the shop.
 * 4) A limit of one unit per an address - unfortunately this also means no combined shipping for this batch (demand depends how long this will be enforced)
 * 5) Following production runs should take place quickly after.

What You Get In The Box
This is unconfirmed until units start to ship:

1. Pre-Assembled Raspberry Pi board

2. Quick Start Guide (likely to be paper copy of )

Note: 1. The board will be supplied assembled (since most of the components are not suitable    for home builds, including the BGA package mounted SoC and PoP memory). 2. The board will NOT have GPIO or JTAG header pins (are not supplied, although may be   available from the shop later on). 3. The board will NOT have CSI and DSI connectors fitted (needs confirmation). 4. All other connectors will be assembled in place.

Accessories
Some accessories will be made available from the shop: See Typical Hardware You Will Need for details about other items you may require.
 * USB Power Supply (UK/EU/US Compatible)
 * Pre-Prepared System SD-Card (software will be provided to prepare your own) -size is unconfirmed
 * Cases (will be available in a few months - i.e. Q2 2012)
 * AddOn/Expansion Boards (will be available later on - i.e. GertBoard due soon)

Price & Payment
Although the foundation is UK based, the guide price of the units are in USD since the RPi components are sourced in USD$.

The expected price is $25USD (~£16GBP) for model A, and $35USD (~£23GBP) for model B.

Payment can be made by Credit Card, PayPal and

Items will be subject to local Tax (i.e. UK will have 20% VAT added) and shipping cost is not included. --needs to be confirmed

Shipping & Importing
Raspberry Pi will ship worldwide to the best of their ability (ie subject to UK export and local import laws).

Countries that may block the import due to their local laws include China (products imported or re-imported into China require a CCC certificate).

This author is unaware if development boards such as the Raspberry Pi require a CCC certificate. Countries that are currently subject to UK (including EU and UN) export restrictions include North Korea, Iran, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Zimbabwe. A full list and further details are provided at

Raspberry Pi devices will ship from the UK (and possibly US) and Raspberry Pi will be looking to sign up distribution partners in due course. The Raspberry Pi team have stated that they'll charge P&P at cost. Shipping prices are calculated within the shop, using a built-in Shipping calculator within the "Shopping Cart".

To get an idea of postage charges, take a look at the Royal Mail website: Look for a package just bigger than 85mm x 55mm x 30mm, weight about 55 grams.

As an example: New Zealand, small package 100grams, air mail 5 days : £2.05 for postage. Add around £3 for packaging and you are looking in the region of £5 for postage and packaging.

More information will be provided when it is available.

Distribution & Official Resellers
Raspberry Pi devices will ship from the UK and Raspberry Pi will be looking to sign up distribution partners in due course.

There are NO authorised distributors or resellers of RPi units, so the only place you will be able to buy a RPi is from the official shop or possibly any which are resold independently on eBay.

Therefore, if you see the units for sale, it is likely that they are at BEST hopeful resellers, or SCAM sites, either way units will not be available any sooner through other channels.

Clones & Copies
The foundation plans to release all the required schematics and plans to reproduce the RPi hardware, so clones and copies will be welcome.

However, since the unit is built around the Broadcom SoC, the interested party will require suitable sized orders to obtain them. The foundation were fortunate enough to be supported in this aspect by Broadcom to enable the project to be feasible.