# Raspberry Pi gift guide highlights Pico 2, Pi 500+, and AI HAT+ for holiday makers

> **Key takeaway:** Raspberry Pi's official holiday gift guide features the new Pico 2 microcontroller from £4.80, the premium Pi 500+ desktop keyboard, and the AI HAT+ 2 for vision AI projects on Raspberry Pi 5.

**Published:** 2026-11-12T11:34:16+00:00 
**Source:** Raspberry Pi News 
**Category:** open-hardware 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/raspberry-pi-gift-guide-highlights-pico-2-pi-500-and-ai-hat-.html 

## Summary
Raspberry Pi has published its annual holiday gift guide targeting makers and hobbyists, organized by skill level and use case. The guide covers entry-level plug-and-play desktops including the Raspberry Pi 400 (£57.60), the more powerful Pi 500 (£172.80), and the premium Pi 500+ with backlit mechanical keyboard, alongside the official Raspberry Pi Monitor for users without displays.

For embedded projects, the guide prominently features the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller starting at £4.80, with wireless and pre-soldered header variants available. Niche accessories include the Sense HAT for environmental sensing, the Build HAT for LEGO integration, and the AI HAT+ 2 paired with the AI Camera for on-device vision inference on Raspberry Pi 5. The Pi Hut's 'Let it Glow' Maker Advent Calendar (£45) bundles a Pico H with twelve days of LED projects.

## Hardware lineup and pricing breakdown
- **Pico 2 microcontroller:** Successor to the original Pico, available from £4.80 with options for wireless (Pico 2 W) and pre-soldered headers, targeting embedded and IoT projects.
- **Pi 500+ premium desktop:** Backlit, tactile, clicky keyboard with full customization options, positioned as the top-tier all-in-one Raspberry Pi computer.
- **AI HAT+ 2:** Neural network accelerator add-on for Raspberry Pi 5, designed to pair with the AI Camera for on-device vision inference without relying on cloud processing.
- **Sense HAT:** Environmental sensor board measuring pressure, humidity, temperature, colour, orientation, and movement, with 8×8 RGB LED matrix and five-button joystick for interaction.
- **Build HAT:** Interface board enabling direct control of LEGO motors and sensors from Raspberry Pi, bridging the ecosystem with LEGO Technic components.

## Why it matters
The guide reinforces Raspberry Pi's positioning across the full maker spectrum from £5 microcontrollers to £200+ desktop systems, which matters for educators and hobbyists planning project budgets. The emphasis on the AI HAT+ 2 and AI Camera reflects growing demand for edge AI capabilities in the open hardware community, while the Pico 2's aggressive pricing maintains pressure on competing MCU platforms in the embedded Linux and maker spaces.