I will show you one of the cheapest hardware setup for web-development possible. Additionally, the hardware setup is very lightweight and portable to carry it around with you. It is available in many countries around the world.

Web-Development with a Raspberry Pi

Let me present you the Raspberry Pi which is a creditcard sized mini computer. The newest version is the Raspberry Pi 4 which comes with the following features:

  • Quad core ARM CPU at 1.5 GHz
  • 2 GB to 8 GB of RAM
  • 2.4 and 5.0 GHz Wifi, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet
  • 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports
  • 2 micro-HDMI ports with 4k resolution
  • Micro-SD Card slot
  • 5V USB-C port for power supply
  • And more (tech specs)

Raspberry Pi 4

With its quad core CPU the Raspberry Pi is fast enough to run multiple applications at the same time. You can connect to the Internet easily via Wifi or Ethernet and use Bluetooth to connect your keyboard, mouse or headset.

As an alternative you can use the 4 USB ports to connect mouse, keyboard or an external hard drive. The Micro-SD card slot is used to to boot your operating system (e.g. Raspberry Pi OS) from an SD card.

With two micro-HDMI ports to connect up to two 4K displays you can easily setup a multi-monitor system.

Bonus: Do not code alone

With the Raspberry Pi you not only get a low-budget system to get started with web-development, you also become a part of the big world-wide community which offers great tutorials for thousands of topics and guides to support you and get you started.

If you want to give it a try, you should have a look at the Raspberry Pi Desktop Kit which comes with a Raspberry Pi 4 + case, keyboard and mouse, a power supply, a beginners guide, an already prepared microSD card and cables. You only should make sure you already have a monitor or a TV you can use as a display.

Watch out: Things to consider

The Raspberry Pi is an ARM device. This means you will not be able to execute apps for the x86 architecture. However, more and more apps are available for ARM and especially as a web-developer you rarely strictly depend on x86 apps. Also note: If you do not already have a monitor or a TV you can use with your Raspberry Pi you may come out better with choosing a cheap laptop.

Resources to start web-development with a Raspberry Pi

I have created a list of useful resources to help you get started with web-development on your Raspberry Pi:

Do you have even more tips or recommendations? Please leave a comment below!