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Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

tomshardware.com

31–40 of 134 posts

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#31
post #19

A lot of scorn for this latest offering from Pi, but I think perspective is important here. No, most of us here do not have a use for the Pi 500 or it's display, but in part so the world where a lightweight low-consumption device can open some doors for connectivity and learning, this looks like a great solution. We tend to forget that not everyone on the planet has the same resources or needs we do.

I do find HN threads about R-Pi products weigh heavily negative. Yet despite the apparent many major issues that keep getting pointed out R-Pi seems to keep going from strength to strength. Maybe they understand their own customers and their market better than commenters here?

> I do find HN threads about R-Pi products weigh heavily negative.

The HN audience at large is still pissed that RPi chose to prioritize large industrial accounts over hobbyists during the Covid chip shortage era, and what few stock arrived at hobbyist distribution channels quickly got mopped up and re-sold by scalpers.

A few FOSS hardliners are pissed about binary blobs and a lack of in-depth documentation - which is something I do understand, after all RPi-as-an-ecosystem should be one of the larger accounts at Broadcom, so I'd expect the negotiators to finally make some progress on that front in a decade.

And others are pissed because Broadcom messed up Pi 4's PCIe implementation [1], or the RPi-side fuck-up with USB-C resistors.

And the final general group of pissed-off people I'm aware of - which again I support - are annoyed about the situation regarding the CSI and DSI (camera and display, respectively) interfaces. Cameras still are limited to official cameras only, and there's (almost?) no DSI compatible displays which means everyone has to pay HDMI licensing fees despite not needing to.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27150697

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#33
post #16

And they are going to manufacture this for next 9 years... How usable will it by the end, knowing the trends in software. Still, I feel it is pretty reasonably priced as whole unit considering other products from them.

The “trends in software” is the problem here: we’ve gotten greedy as developers and basically build assuming resources don’t matter. I am quite willing to bet that if we considered resources, we’d still be able to build all the stuff we want without assuming resources are free. Hardware would be viable longer. Efficiency unfortunately seems like the last thing anyone thinks about anymore, instead favoring time to market and layers upon layers that prioritize developer happiness and productivity over all else.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#34

How usable is the PI5 as a desktop PC replacement? The PI4 was too slow to run anything serious.

I was testing it for web dev, it's much better than the Pi 400/Pi 4 in that regard[1]. Still not near Apple M1 class performance, so you have to adjust expectations for media, creative stuff. But most things I've tested work fine now on the Pi if it works in Linux at all, which is a bit nicer than last time I tried 4 years ago. [1] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/pi-500-much-faster-la...

I should have waited to buy the 400 a few months ago.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#35
post #19

A lot of scorn for this latest offering from Pi, but I think perspective is important here. No, most of us here do not have a use for the Pi 500 or it's display, but in part so the world where a lightweight low-consumption device can open some doors for connectivity and learning, this looks like a great solution. We tend to forget that not everyone on the planet has the same resources or needs we do.

>but in part so the world where a lightweight low-consumption device can open some doors for connectivity and learning, this looks like a great solution

I hear this repeated over and over again in RPi threads, but nobody ever provides any proof of developing nations using RPis as affordable desktop computers apart from some PR articles every now and then involving partnerships and donations.

This feels more of an opinionated viewpoint or stereotype from clueless westerners from rich countries they have on developing countries. $50+ for a RPi might be affordable computer for you when your average computer at home is $700+, but for people in developing countries even $50 is A LOT of money and they're not gonna spend it buying RPis.

As someone originally from a developing nation, most people there use x86 PCs or laptops from the used market or rescued from e-waste imports and repaired because they're much cheaper (nearly free) and more abundant than a new RPI 5 based computer, not to mention more versatile in what SW they can run.

Or, more recently people started using old Android phones to learn on because they're also cheap and abundant and can be used for coding/tinkering. But RPis, not so much.

The OLPC project intended to provide cheap computers to developing countries also failed in part because, just like a RPI as a computer, westerners don't understand the market of developing countries and do product development from their own privileged perspective.

This isn't meant to denigrate anyone's work or effort, just wanted to share the reality in the field that I encountered.

Oh and BTW, even in the rich west where I live now, a RPi5 is pretty expresive and impractical for a general purpose computer when you can find Core i5 laptops with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSDs for that money on the used market. And it comes with display and battery to boot and can be used on the go.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do find HN threads about R-Pi products weigh heavily negative. Yet despite the apparent many major issues that keep getting pointed out R-Pi seems to keep going from strength to strength. Maybe they understand their own customers and their market better than commenters here?

HN crowd is solid in some very narrow technical subjects. The more you deviate from those, the worse. It quickly degenerates into some incredibly stupid takes from people that clearly think very highly of themselves, and are unable to do any introspection. R-Pi offerings are fine. It is supposed to be a cheap computer, and they could get something that costs less than 200 bucks with a monitor. Definitely not bad.

I think the thing many are starting to feel that they are not cheap anymore.

At least compared to some things like refurb laptops and such. Just recently saw 249€ Lenovo laptop with Ryzen 5 4500U, 16GB RAM and 480GB SSD.

Not new, but still, more powerful and having storage too.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#37
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get brand new, current-gen (Alder Lake) mini PCs with those specs for the same price as a PI + storage + case + PSU.

Where?

Here is an example [1]. When you factor out the pricefor PSU, Storage you will find that probably this is comparable or cheaper than PI 5.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-S12-Pro-Generation-Intel/dp/B...

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#39
I bought the 400 on a whim and it came in handy when both my main and space computer broke: If you connect a hard drive through a powered USB hub, you can actually use this for real work, albeit very slowly.

These days, I mainly use it as a Commodore 64: https://imgur.com/Afq9uFq

Re: Raspberry Pi 500 Review: The keyboard is the computer, again

#40
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN crowd is solid in some very narrow technical subjects. The more you deviate from those, the worse. It quickly degenerates into some incredibly stupid takes from people that clearly think very highly of themselves, and are unable to do any introspection. R-Pi offerings are fine. It is supposed to be a cheap computer, and they could get something that costs less than 200 bucks with a monitor. Definitely not bad.

I think the thing many are starting to feel that they are not cheap anymore. At least compared to some things like refurb laptops and such. Just recently saw 249€ Lenovo laptop with Ryzen 5 4500U, 16GB RAM and 480GB SSD. Not new, but still, more powerful and having storage too.

Yes, but that is true for basically every consumer product. Cars, electronics, you name it.

"You can buy old restored/refurbished thing cheaper than a cheap brand new thing" is hardly a very insightful take.

Does that mean that there is no market for "cheap brand new thing"?

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