Raspberry Pi Power-Up Guide: Display
Introducing – Find the one
Maybe you are already an raspberry pi user, maybe not. We made an comparison between the display for raspberry pi. To make it clear, We make a simple sheet representing the features and specs.
The simplest way to get started with Raspberry Pi is display. Power and boot the Rpi, wait until the main screen! I will never forget the first time playing RPi.
But there’s a dozen of display out there, see the list below:Yes, quite a lot of them. But there is one happy thing: most of them share the same pinout/interface for RPi, no matter what model your RPi is, B or B+, it always works. For a better choice for you, you’d better understanding the follow definition.
| Name | LCD Type | Size | Interface | Touch Screen | Colors | Resolution | Ratio | Price |
| 2.8″ USB TFT Display Module For Raspberry Pi | TFT | 2.8 inch | SPI | Y | 65K | 320×240 | 4:3 | 45.5 |
| 3.2 Inch TFT LCD Screen for Raspberry Pi | TFT | 3.2 inch | SPI | Y | 65K | 320×240 | 4:3 | 34.95 |
| Raspberry Pi 3.2″ Touchscreen Display w/ 8 extension header | TFT | 3.2 inch | SPI | Y | 65K | 320×240 | 4:3 | 29.95 |
| 3.5″ Primary Display for Raspberry Pi | TFT | 3.5 inch | SPI | Y | 65K | 480×320 | 3:2 | 69 |
| 4.3″ Raspberry Pi Display Module | TFT | 4.3 inch | Serial Port | Y | 65K | 480 x 272 | N/A | 99 |
| 7” Diagonal – 1280×800 IPS HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL Display | IPS | 7 inch | HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL | N | N/A | 1280×800 | 16:10 | 129 |
| 10.1”LCD Display – 1366×768 HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL | TFT | 10.1 inch | HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL | N | 262K | 1366×768 | 16:9 | 89 |
What is TFT/IPS?
- TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor. The Thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology is the most common display technology used in mobile phones.
- IPS LCD Stands for In Plane Switching liquid Crystal Display. This technology offers better display quality as compared to the TFT-LCD display. The good part about IPS LCD is that it offers better viewing angles and consumes less power. Due to higher costs, it is found only on high-end smartphones.
What is HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL
- For some small size display, none of them is used. USB in hardware and SPI in software is much cheaper choice.
- VGA: Analog signal. Limited by bandwidth which prevents higher resolutions.
- HDMI: Digital signal. Can carry audio and video data.
- NTSC is the video system or standard used in North America and most of South America.
- PAL is the predominant video system or standard mostly used overseas.
Notice for Model B+
The extra pinout will be covered if you use a Model B Compatible display, Raspberry Pi 3.2″ Touchscreen Display w/ 8 extend headers is designed for Model B+ specially, the pinout will be extend to the side of RPi:
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