It was nearly two years ago when the folks behind Raspberry Pi started looking for a simple, embeddable display for the nifty little computer. At the time it was believed that this endeavor won’t need more than six months but it ended up taking a lot more time than expected. The team were met with a number of issues and other product launches diverted its attention from the display but they’ve finally got there. The official touchscreen display for Raspberry Pi is finally available for purchase.
It’s not like it was never possible to hook up a display to the Raspberry Pi, the computer does have an HDMI port so plugging in a display is quite easy, but the official one is a much more cost effective solution.
Quality color reproduction, contrast ratio, viewing angle, pixel quality and affordability were major factors that influenced the team’s decision and it ended up sourcing the “industrial-quality” display from Inelco Hunter based in the United Kingdom.
This is a 7 inch 800×480 pixel resolution to-point touchscreen display with 240bit color, 70 degree viewing angle. It’s metal backed with mounting holes for the Pi.
The official touchscreen display for Raspberry Pi is available for purchase today through the Raspberry Pi Store, Premier Farnell, Newark, Allied Electronics and RS Components for $60. Stock will be expanded to more sellers in a few days.