# Raspberry Pi 2

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Raspberry Pi 2 and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 9 years (5 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Long-lived board that people run unattended for years; the older model still gives good value, though one critic found it struggled with heavy workloads.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs for years on original SD card (3 comments): "I have a rasperry pi 2 and 4 that have been running on the same size uSD (reputable brand) for 5 years and haven’t had any issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48968518)) "I have a Raspberry Pi 2 that has been running a weather station for over 12 years, and it has been on the original SD card." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47399844)) "Well, it's still running today on the original SD card." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46747518))
- Needs no attention once set up (2 comments): "It's on 24/7 and it's been doing its job just fine since years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46746957)) "it doesn't need any time or attention. It just does its job." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47466137))
- Good cost-benefit for older model (2 comments): "The 2b, 3b and Zero 2 have the best cost-benefit ratio." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48315432)) "no point in buying the latest and greatest version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563921))
- Enough performance for light use (2 comments): "An old Pi 2 or 3 which dont need any cooling are very useful still for a range of applications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46044393)) "it's plenty performant for the ~10 people that access it regularly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060407))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Raspberry Pi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi.md): 425 recommend
- [Raspberry Pi Zero](https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi-zero.md): 77 recommend
- [NVIDIA Jetson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nvidia-jetson.md): 28 recommend
- [Orange Pi 6 Plus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/orange-pi-6-plus.md): 18 recommend
- [SpacemiT K3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spacemit-k3.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Raspberry+Pi+2+Model+B&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://www.raspberrypi.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Raspberry Pi 2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi-2/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).