I hope this is a one-off expensive Pi and not an indication of a new pricing strategy. It would be very disappointing if these hacker computers became expensive toys.
The article is very feel-good with the carbon credits and all, but the inflating pricing is a disservice to the hacker community. It shouldn’t be sort of greenwashed.
Locally (Spain), the new 16GB model costs ~140 EUR, while the 2GB model costs ~60 EUR. So if you just want a very cheap RPI, seems it's still out there, you just cannot aim for 16GB (or go for something else than RPI).
Indeed, there are options. But rpi 3 was launched for €32/$35. I hope rpi 6 is not launched starting at €120/$120+, that’s all I’m saying.
It would make it inaccessible for hobby projects that need more than one and to most kids that need to buy it for computer science classes (or schools that budget for these things). Those were very important purposes for pi, the main purposes, according to some.
And yes, one might say — but inflation. To which I would say — bust cost of living crisis. Anyways, computing should be accessible to everyone, it’s what Steve Jobs called a bicycle for the brain. If raspberry cannot afford do make this pi cheaper, they should design one they can afford.
So long as there are cheap pis (as you mention), I will continue to love the brand. Even if they have premium models. But if they shift to more expensive pricing for all pis, which is sort of what seems to be happening very gently, that would be disappointing. That’s my point.
It also had 1GB RAM, 1.2GHz CPU and 100mbit Ethernet, while the RPI 5 has 2.4GHz CPU, iGPU, hardware HEVC decoder, 2GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet and more.
But yeah, overall I agree, they seem to be slowly raising the prices (even when accounting for inflation) which isn't too hopeful to see, but at least they seem to have some footing to raise the prices, as the new ones has a lot more features than the old ones.
In the end, there are alternatives that will give you more performance/spent money, although probably with worse software support...
It depends on intended usage. If I want to run it as a desktop computer - this is one case (who would do it - another question). It is very different if I want to deploy it in every room of my home. RPi used to be the solution for the second type of problem: ad-hoc smart things with exceptional connectivity and above-average computing power.
It's worth remembering, we're talking about the most expensive member of a pretty full product line. I have had a few "every room" applications (streaming music with some pretty inefficient software) for these things, and I found the original Zero to be a little underpowered, but the 1GB RPi 4 that my local Microcenter sells for $30 would work fine.
(I think I'm actually more irked than most people about RPi going public, but their product pricing still seems okay to me)
The article is very feel-good with the carbon credits and all, but the inflating pricing is a disservice to the hacker community. It shouldn’t be sort of greenwashed.