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Buy a Pi, get an 8GB NOOBS SD card for $5

By now I hope many of you have had a chance to play with NOOBS, the new out of box software we released back at the start of June. Although originally aimed at providing a better experience for newcomers to the Pi, we now reckon NOOBS is the best way for almost everyone to get the most out of their Pi.

With this in mind, from today our partners RS Components and element14 will be offering an optional 8GB NOOBS SD card with every new Model A or Model B Raspberry Pi, for only $5.

The NOOBS SD card in all its glory.

We designed the Pi so that pretty much all the extras you need can be found around the house: there’s not much point in making a $25 computer if your customers need to go out and buy $100 of accessories to use it. Most people can rustle up an old TV, a small SD card and a mobile phone charger. But we’ve noticed that not everybody has access to a large enough card to take advantage of NOOBS, or to a device which can write to SD cards. Fast, pre-programmed, high-capacity cards like the Samsung ones we’re bundling (and which have turned out to be our favourite cards in testing; they’re optimised for random read/write behaviour, unlike many cards which are designed for the large continuous reads and writes that digital cameras make) have been the best-selling Pi accessory offered by our partners since launch, so we’re expecting a lot of you to take us up on this offer.

NOOBS in action.

$5 is an incredible deal for a fast 8GB card. (Just Google how much these cards usually sell for with nothing on them.) We’d like to thank our partners, and our friends at Samsung, xel and Cardwave for pulling out all the stops to make this happen.

A note on SD card nomenclature. The card we’re offering here is rated as Class 4 – in some metrics, Class 4 means slow. This is not the case with this card, which has outperformed many Class 6 and Class 10 cards in our tests – classification seems not to correlate well with random read/write performance. Samsung’s unusual focus on random-access performance on their SD memory means that this card performs very fast and very reliably: we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

70 comments

Excellent news!

One question: will this card only be available when you buy a Pi? Or can it be bought separately?

The Raspberry Pi Guy

It’s only when bought with a Pi.

No.
You can order it seperately.

I’ll clarify:

This 8GB NOOBS SD card is only available for $5 when bought with a Raspberry Pi. You can buy it separately but it will cost you more.”

Gutted. I’ve recently bought my second and third Pi.

Sorry about that Robot — there will always be these issues in tech :(

Thanks for your continued support though — we hope you are enjoying your Pis!

Could the suppliers let us buy these SD cards without buying a Pi? I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra for a card that is pretty much guaranteed to work with the Pi.

That’s OK. It’s a great offer and if people are undecided about getting a Pi this should convince them to get one. So if you’re reading this and you haven’t got a Pi yet then order one!

Does this apply just to US orders or the UK as well?

Uk soon
see
http://i.imgur.com/h2nTvNz.png
but only model B

http://cpc.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-8gb-usd/sbc-raspberry-pi-8gb-microsd-card/dp/SC13130?in_merch=New%20Products cpc have it

People looking to take them up on the offer might have to wait a day or two. Right now, the combined offer is still “Coming Soon” at the consumer section of Element14 while the 8 GB card with NOOBS (funny names are bad..) is listed for £13.25. Haven’t checked their business page or RS, sorry.

We’ve got some on this link :)

http://cpc.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-8gb-usd/sbc-raspberry-pi-8gb-microsd-card/dp/SC13130?Ntt=SC13130

I notice from the CPC page above that it is a MicroSD card. Then looking back at the picture in this article I can see this obviously is a MicroSD card inside a SD adaptor (The tab at the bottom of the adapter gives it away). I have no problem with this – in fact all 4 of my Pi’s have MicroSD cards in them, but just thought I would mention it.

I totally agree on the sd card classification comments. Ive used quite a few different cards, but have found that SanDisk Ultra class 4 card’s out perform other class 6 & 10 cards Ive used in the past.

can you share the exact Samsung card model so we know which one is so highly recommended.

I’ll second this request – the eLinux wiki currently does not list any 8GB Class 4 cards from Samsung, so no clues from there.

Possibly the Samsung Plus UHS-1 8GB. Can this be confirmed please.

I want to know also.
My guess:
https://www.modmypi.com/samsung-8gb-sd-card-pre-loaded-with-debian-linux-os

The picture of the SD card appears to me to be an SD adapter with a MicroSD in it. Is this the case?

It appears so from CPCs website above.

Liz:

Can it be clarified if the card is microSD or SD.

I have my rPIs all with microSD an smaller adapters to fit inside RS case.

If its and will be microSD for 5$ extra it would totally worth it.

The SDcard is a microSD with an SD adapter.

Exactly which model it is I can’t tell you (well don’t know!), but it has been fully tested with the Raspbian software over the past couple of months

Gordon

We’re using Samsung MMCTR08G3ACH-QNJMK micro-SD cards in a generic, but beautifully screen printed adapter.

Hope this Samsung card will put an end to the problems we face with all sorts of SD cards. My friend and myself have purchased 7 RPi units and at least double the number of SD cards. Some of them show sector problems very often.

Have you tried the latest rpi-update build? Have you still seen SD corruption? A bug has been fixed

Gordon

funny the Raspbian is by default recommended when Arch runs SO MUCH faster..

Yeah, but Arch is barebones, Raspbian is designed to work right out of the box. You can’t compare the two.

What I find odd is that there are not one but two dedicated XBMC distros included, OpenELEC and RaspBMC. The two are nearly indistinguishable although I thought OpenELEC seemed more responsive. Since XBMC runs even better on Raspbian, and since Raspbian is also good for day-to-day word processing or spreadsheet crunching, I suggest replacing both with something more specialized. Perhaps something like that assembly-language chess?

Will these be available in the US anytime soon?

Please see post 16 below.

A British product, developed in the UK, made in the UK and distributed from the UK, so could we have prices in £’s please and not $ (whose dollars anyway – Australia, Canada, US?).

When you buy petabytes of SD card storage you do business in US dollars. *Today* USD5 is worth GBP3.25, but if I used the sterling value I’d have to change the headline tommorrow. And the next day. And the next… And I really can’t be bothered ;)

Having said all that — £3.25 for a quality, pre-installed, 8GB SD card. Good eh? :D

As Clive says, in Electronics we tend to buy everything in dollars so the dollar price does not change and that’s why we quote it.

If we used GBP then we’d have to give you a daily fluctuating price depending on the exchange rate

Gordon

You may want to update the Downloads page. I haven’t used NOOBS because I didn’t think my OS was supported (Arch) but the screenshot suggests otherwise.

” Raspbian, Pidora and two flavours of XBMC”

and how do I get an avatar on here? Thanks.

Get an account on Gravatar.com with the same email address you used here for an avatar.

Awesome, thank you.

Im convinced to order a raspberryPi as soon as my EDD check arrives!

Would like to DJ with it in place of a laptop dedicated to run The Bridge (Serato Scratch Live AND Ableton Suite 8 running TOGETHER)
using the screen to my samsung galaxy s2 and a midi usb control to set the functions

Sorry, but those pieces of software will not run on the Raspberry pi, which has an ARM CPU and Linux as it’s primary OS.

Although maybe I have picked what you are saying wrong. I’m not sure what “The Bridge” is and when I search for it, the results I’m finding are definitely not what you mean.

Ableton Studio Requirements:
http://www.ableton.com/en/articles/requirements-live-9/
Intel® Mac with Mac OS X 10.5 or later, or PC with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8

And Serato Scratch Live has no option to download for Linux running on ARM.
http://serato.com/scratchlive/downloads
Scratch Live Mac OS X installer
Scratch Live Windows installer

would this be compatible with those softwares? https://www.modmypi.com/android-mini-PC's/MK802-MkII-Android-4.0-Mini-PC-Black

An excuse to buy another pi for my collection I suppose :)

For U.S. Buyers:

Newark.com – http://www.newark.com/nva-buyout/raspberry-pi-8gb-bundle/bundle-model-b-8gb-sdcard-w-noobs/dp/97W6849?Ntt=noobs

MCM Electronics – http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/83-15499

Nothing yet for AlliedElec.com or Adafruit.com.

I literally bought a Pi the day before this SD card deal came out -.-

James,
Can you cancel the order before it ships, then order this one?

Hopefully soon find a distributor for Latin America, especially Costa Rica, we have a small community on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RaspberryPiCR), and with any supplier, build a pi, is very expensive.

thanks

for an application where we wanted long term reliability we have been using these SLC cards http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-Endurance-SDHC-CL10-memory/dp/B004B8P5GG
there are not many SLC cards around, but in theory that is a more reliable technology, but a bit pricey for the capacity.

Just noticed this product on element14 :

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=2334981&COM=RPiAccessories-smprod-8gb

11.81 pounds in USD is 18.07 USD, NOT 5 !

Feel like I’m missing something here….

That’s what they cost when you buy them outside a bundle.

Yes, but Model B is £28.07 and + NOOB card is £36.34 which is a delta of £8.27. If I take the VAT off that is still £6.89 according to my calculations – hardly $5!

Incidentally, $5 at current exchange rate should be about £3.27.

The Pi on it’s own was about £26/27 in single units from Farnell and now the bundle is £30.84. That’s pretty damn close. http://uk.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-8gb-usd/sbc-raspberry-pi-8gb-microsd-card/dp/2334982?ref=lookahead

Guru – yes but a. that’s only for business accounts. b, It doesn’t say this is the NOOB bundle just that it is a mini SD card. For domestic users the bundle is at https://export.farnell.com/jsp/raspi/orderPad.jsp?&country=GB which clearly says it is the NOOB bundle and has the prices I said.

Are all Samsung cards optimised for random access or just these particular class 4 cards? Is this true of any other brands, or are Samsung unique in this regard?

I’d gladly “second” a request to answer this comment. I do a lot of Minecraft-Pi and it seems to enjoy chewing up SD cards. If Samsung micro SD cards, in general, hold up it’d be worth investing a few extra bucks per card if they’re less prone to corruption.

Finally, an excuse to buy a rev 2 model b Pi.

has anyone run tests using raspivid?

under different lighting conditions?

with high deltas?

it would be useful to have some SD card ratings.
for both continuous and random access use on the RPi

I wasn’t happy with my video, it was excellent, but with artefacts.
wanted to check if SD may be the cause…

ie this card is clearly a good buy for general computer use, but would another card be better for raspivid

I am testing sandisk ultra with 30Mb/s, considering extreme pro 95Mb/s and keeping tabs on the new Toshiba 250Mb/s due in the fall.

I really have little idea, whilst deltas are low, any card seems fine, but when throughput changes dramatically artefacts arise.

This sucks. I just ordered a Pi from MCMelectronics on monday and they didn’t have this deal up yet, only the 4gb sd card bundle. :(

So glad I didn’t buy a Raspberry Pi yet, now I can get one with a Pi branded card.

If anyone has already receiced one of these cards, could you let us know what is the card’s product reference (if not covered by the Pi logo) and USB Vid & Pid?

I have a bunch of Samsung micro-SD, just wondering if I already have such a good one!

my card on the front says:
MicroSD
HC 1
and then 8gb with a 4 in a circle.

on the back:
MMCTR0863ACH-NJ
K E53068DM 323
made in philippines

Just checked the element14/Newark website and they are only honoring this offer with the model B, and not with the model A. Of course the guy I talked to on the phone thought the model A was the old, discontinued version.

I have just checked the prices. Pi Model B is priced at £26.88 (£25 for 10+ with further price breaks down to £23.77 for 100+) and the Model B with NOOBS is priced at £30.84 (dropping to £26.14 for 100+) on the Farnell site. These prices are ex-VAT and delivery is free.

That makes the NOOBS about £3.96 (or £2.37 for 100+).

Oh no not again! This is the price for business (with VAT registration) – not individuals. What they call Consumer. RPi is £28.07 and RPI+NOOB is £36.34 but these include VAT @ 20%. So if I take this off we end up with £23.39 and £30.28 – a delta of £6.89. That’s about $10.68 at today’s exchange rate.By the way, even £3.96 is $6.14! Oh I forgot, Consumers pay £5.95 postage as well and only get free postage on orders above £75!

I’ve just placed an order for one today from CPC.

For a consumer ordering from Farnell in the UK – then it’s worth looking at http://cpc.farnell.com. It is part of Farnell, but trading under the name CPC and offers FREE delivery (saves almost £6 in delivery charge)

Current price for a model B:
£28.07 without SD card
£32.99 with SD card

Which puts the SD card at £4.92 (approx $7.60) – which is much cheaper than if purchased separately

CPC shows the individual SD cards as being Pro-Signal rather than Samsung which are the ones on the Farnell website, I’m hoping mine comes with the Pi logo (my guess is that it probably will as I ordered with the bundle).

RS also offer free delivery and costs marginally less. There are also independent retailers (some of which are listed under Friends of Pi), although I don’t know of any of those bundling the SD card at such low cost – yet…

Sales support and delivery time varies between retailers.

Hi Stewart – Actually the CPC price is better than you say as without VAT it is £3.10 which is about $4.80. RS also have a good price as you say, but let a lot of people down last year (including me).

I’ve ordered several Pis now through various suppliers.

I ordered one of the early ones from RS and didn’t have any problems, although I did hear about others that did. Farnell provided better communication on the status and updated the ETA when appropriate. Schools and colleges often have an account with RS so will probably be the default choice more than individuals.

The independent retailers tended to provide a better service and faster turnaround than the big players, but they don’t have the NOOBs SD cards so far.

CPC are good – I ordered one from them on Tuesday and it arrived Wednesday – complete with the new NOOBs SD card.

Does this mean that all the software that is available for download is also preloaded into this card?
Or only Noob is preloaded on the card and it will go out to the web, download and then install whatever the user then picks in the menu?
Does this mean that card has enough place to load at least one OS? And later if the user decides to choose another OS he/she can delete the first OS and then use NOOB to install the other OS?

Unfortunately I have to report that one of your partners, Element14, appears to be offering the Pi and the NOOBS SD card at an inflated/ripoff price: http://au.element14.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?sku=2334982&COM=raspi-group

$62 ?

Even accounting for the variation in value of the AUD vs the GBP and USD, they are selling the Model B Pi itself for $AUD 41.80 but the Model B Pi with the 8 GB NOOBS card for $AUD 62? That’s a much bigger difference to the $5 extra mentioned in this post.

Please investigate.

Hmmm, the extra price *might* be due to bundling a micro SD to SD card reader. Why would they do that? The NOOBS $5 card is sufficient. This appears to be at the very least, be a scam aimed at using the NOOBS release to sell microSD card adaptors for no good reason.

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