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

tomshardware.com

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

#81

Post by esskay »

tsak wrote: post #48
akho wrote: post #42

In a world where N100 exists, only Zero and Nano Pis are interesting. The main/x00 lines are not good deals for desktop or self-hosting use. Not sure what the point the monitor makes.

Can you spec a N100 system with 8GB of RAM and at least 32 GB of (slow) SSD and land around the £100 / $120 price point of a Raspberry Pi 500 with 27W power adapter? Not to mention the GPIO header.

As others pointed out, yes you can. But you can get even better specs and at a lower price on eBay. Any of the Lenovo or Dell mini pc's are cheaper (around £50-£70 depending on the model) on eBay and SIGNIFICANTLY more useful.

For people buying these as a computer the power difference isn't something that even enters their mind. How many average people do you see debating one tv over another because it uses 5w more power?

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

#82

Post by heresie-dabord »

itfossil wrote: post #67

Love to see and I've been waiting for the Pi500 release for awhile. I'm running my house on Pi400s so the Pi500 will be a huge upgrade. They are still silent, have double the RAM, triple the speed, so whats not to like? Plus they will fit into the exact same desk crevice where the current Pi400s live. New Pi day is the best day!

I too have been excited about news of the Pi 500... I like it! I don't "run my house" (or NASA-level outdoor light displays [0]) with Raspberry Pi devices but I use the Pi 400 and an R.Pi 4 phatty as interchangeable workstations booting from a single external NVMe that I swap.

The R.Pi 500 has 8GB RAM (phatter than the Pi 400) and a much better thermal profile than the non-kb R.Pi 5 because of the mainboard design and heatsink.

As others have said, some opportunities for the R.Pi 500 may have been missed, such as M.2 or even a backlight for the keyboard. (Project: power an LED light from GPIO!) But the TDP, performance, and 8GB RAM are excellent features. And it's a portable system with keyboard ^_^

My ideal R.Pi would be using Display Port instead of HDMI but then the SOC (which has built-in HDMI) would be a different proposition. [1]

[0] https://www.tomshardware.com/raspberry-pi/this-dazzling-rasp...

[1] https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=61566

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

#85

Post by mark_l_watson »

alxlaz wrote: post #45
Cumpiler69 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 opi…

Yeah, I'm going to second that. I've lived in (technically I am from what used to be a "developing nation" at the time), worked in, and worked with people from, "developing nations", both in education and industry. It's just not how things work. The Pi is a good educational platform for e.g. Western organizations that need to kickstart education programs at a scale. It's infinitely easier to ship 100 Pis than to loca…

I would add Chromebooks to your list of Windows and macOS computers. Chromebooks support video calls, are versatile, and offer a ‘good enough’ Linux system for educational use and light weight programming.

I use a $9000 macOS setup in my home office (stuffed Mac Mini and Apple’s very nice studio monitor). As a backup I have an older, but still very nice System 76 Linux laptop. I joke to my wife that everything I need to do, I can also do on my less than three hundred dollar three year old Lenovo Duet Chromebook - just not as efficiently. I had a friend who was a software developer for the Apache Foundation, paid well by IBM, and he only used a tiny NetBook laptop, little keyboard, tiny monitor, and he argued that using minimal hardware removed distractions.

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

#86

Post by ajb »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #53
Cumpiler69 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 opi…

It's because in reality it just doesn't work that way, the reality of what education really needs is ways to collaborate on documents and sync those back to teachers, ways to broadcast or watch recordings of lessons and most of all reliability and control. In reality these needs are better served by Chromebooks or Android tablets. The fact that the Pi is a real computer and runs the real version of Python on a real O…

Yeah that quote is a bit nuts.

The reality is that the pi isn't a general educational product - it's a computing educational product. And that is fine. If a kid wants to learn about programming, about what goes on under the hood, it's a fine addition to their locked down school Chromebook.

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

#87

Post by Cumpiler69 »

ajb wrote: post #86
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because in reality it just doesn't work that way, the reality of what education really needs is ways to collaborate on documents and sync those back to teachers, ways to broadcast or watch recordings of lessons and most of all reliability and control. In reality these needs are better served by Chromebooks or Android tablets. The fact that the Pi is a real computer and runs the real version of Python on a real O…

Yeah that quote is a bit nuts. The reality is that the pi isn't a general educational product - it's a computing educational product. And that is fine. If a kid wants to learn about programming, about what goes on under the hood, it's a fine addition to their locked down school Chromebook.

>about what goes on under the hood

But you can do that on a regular laptop/computer running Linux sine that's what RPi also runs. You don't need an additional RPi to learn what's under the hood of a device running Linux.

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

#88

Post by geerlingguy »

Citizen_Lame wrote: post #62
surgical_fire wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"?

N100 box is new and cheaper. 256GB, 16GB RAM HDMI, 2.5 Gb network, case, charger etc. Raspberry Pi is pointless as a "cheap" computer. It's good if you you are building something which requires GPIO. So perhaps you are the one out of touch.

In some parts of the world, that box is around the same price as a similarly kitted Pi 5 (though with 8GB of RAM), but certainly not cheaper.

Nothing against the N100 as an option, it's a great option for many use cases... but it's at minimum the same price (for a different type of computer), but typically a little more expensive ($150+)

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

#89

Post by geerlingguy »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #83

Original submitted link was the announcement post: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-500-and-raspbe...

Yeah not sure why the link was changed from the official announcement to one of the reviews... confused me when I checked my comments and saw they were on a different post!

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

#90

Post by esskay »

geerlingguy wrote: post #88
Citizen_Lame wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

N100 box is new and cheaper. 256GB, 16GB RAM HDMI, 2.5 Gb network, case, charger etc. Raspberry Pi is pointless as a "cheap" computer. It's good if you you are building something which requires GPIO. So perhaps you are the one out of touch.

In some parts of the world, that box is around the same price as a similarly kitted Pi 5 (though with 8GB of RAM), but certainly not cheaper. Nothing against the N100 as an option, it's a great option for many use cases... but it's at minimum the same price (for a different type of computer), but typically a little more expensive ($150+)

I think if its a one off purchase for use as a general pc or learning tool that doesn't require GPIO something like a second hand thinkcentre or optiplex is probably the best option.

They'll be cheaper than a Pi 5 or Pi 500, plus often come with a keyboard and mouse in addition to the power supply. Sure, they arent going to be quite as power efficient but you're getting significantly more for your money, as well as repurposing second hand kit that might have otherwise ended up in landfill.

GPIO aside I struggle to think of a good reason to buy a Pi 5 for this sort of application, especially when the cheaper second hand alternatives have one thing the pi doesn't - upgradability.

On the N100's, they seem to occasionally get a fair bit cheaper. The GMKtec G3 Mini for example (8GB ram, 256GB SSD) was down to £67.55 on Aliexpress[1] recently for example.

I do like a good Pi but for a lot of applications they just do not make much financial sense anymore.

[1] https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/gmktec-g3-mini-pc-intel-ald...

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