New Arduino Uno R4 Minima & WiFi

When you see the new Arduino Uno R4 boards, a few things immediately stand out. For example, the USB-B port has been replaced by a USB-C port. This saves a lot of space and hassle when looking for the right cables. In addition, the well-known ATMEGA328 chip has been replaced by a powerful RA4M1 from Renesas.
Where the Uno R3 had 12V input, the Uno R4 has doubled that! So now you can connect 24V to the Arduino Uno R4 boards.
For the advanced users there are also some new interesting features. For example, DAC, OP AMP, CAN BUS and SWD Connectors are available.

The Arduino Uno R4 Minima is the version that most resembles the standard Uno R3. In terms of size, pins and look it is quite similar to its predecessor. But when you look at it a little closer, a number of things immediately stand out. First of all, the Uno R4 is a lot darker. The standard Arduino color has been replaced by a dark blue to almost black color. But it is much tighter. There are far fewer components visible. The components that are still on the board are a lot smaller. The new RA4M1 chip is not even half the size of the ATMEGA328. You also never have to search for an old USB-B cable again, because you can now simply connect the Arduino with a USB-C cable. On the right side of the Minima board you will find ten SWD pins. You can use these for debugging.
In terms of price, the board is a bit cheaper than its predecessor. You can get a new Arduino Uno R4 Minima for just €20.95

The Arduino Uno R4 WiFi is the new, more extensive version. When you put it next to the R4 Minima, the board looks very different. The color is considerably bluer and the board is much more full of components. Most of the space is used by the 12*8 LED Matrix. The LED Matrix contains 96 red LED lights that can be controlled individually. This allows you to display icons on it. But it is also very useful to display sensor data or status messages, for example. In addition to the LED Matrix, the ESP32 module from ESPRESSIF immediately stands out. Thanks to this module, you can easily connect your project to the internet. This makes the Uno R4 WiFi ideal for IoT projects. The board now also has pins where you can connect an RTC (Real Time Clock) battery. This is very nice for "low power" applications.
On the right side of the board you will find a Qwiic connector to which you can connect one or more nodes from the Qwiic ecosystem.
In terms of price, the Arduino Uno R4 WiFi is a bit higher than the standard Arduino Uno R4 at €29.95, but you do get a number of features that you would rather not miss.