• FrederikNJS@piefed.zipEnglish
    4 hours

    I realised a while ago that it’s way cheaper to hunt for second-hand intel NUCs, and the resulting machine is way more powerful… And the RAM and storage is upgradeable, if the NUC didn’t come with plenty of storage or RAM already…

      • 73ms@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        18 minutes

        I think the ecosystem has some more benefits besides that. Ready to use case, cooler, camera, display options and lots of resources for putting these things together compared to NUCs/minipcs. I do like how the compute modules are even more flexible with the ability to choose from various carrier boards. Really depends on your use case which makes the most sense.

        • village604@adultswim.fanEnglish
          1 hour

          I’ve been enjoying tinkering with the Pico. In my experience it’s easier to flash than an esp chip.

        • kn33@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3 hours

          Yup. If you really need GPIO + any real power, either go with an ARM board from AliExpress or do NUC + ESP32 with a serial connection between them.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3 hours

        Pi is also a fraction of the power consumption (meaning also heat dissipation requirements) and physical size.

        • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3 hours

          Low power draw but ridiculous power supply requirements of 5V5A (depending on the model) with a USB-C connector which isnt a thing outside of this specific application meaning they’re going to be expensive and hard to source. They should have just done a barrel plug or put an effing voltage regulator on board like Arduinos.

          • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            3 hours

            It really needs USB-PD support with an onboard regulator, but of course that would be way too crazy to implement.

            Pi’s were cool up until the 3b and everything after has just not been good for the form factor. Conveniently, the 3B was about the time they started prioritizing selling volume to commercial customers.

          • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2 hours

            Low power draw but ridiculous power supply requirements of 5V5A (depending on the model) with a USB-C connector which isnt a thing outside of this specific application meaning they’re going to be expensive and hard to source.

            That’s only for the Pi 5 (the highest end unit), and I’ll agree that at that level its hard to justify a Pi over a larger computer. Even for the Pi 5 its not that hard to find those Power Supplies. Most laptops today use power supplies that meet or exceed those specs. You’re right that those are more expensive than Pi 4 and below Power Supplies.

            They should have just done a barrel plug or put an effing voltage regulator on board like Arduinos.

            Again, no defense of Pi 5 from me. However, for everything below Pi 5, HARD PASS on a voltage regulator. I don’t want that heat in the tiny Pi case. At the lower power requirements of Pi4 and below USB power is fine.

            • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              9 minutes

              Most laptops today use power supplies that meet or exceed those specs.

              Non those are USB-PD power supplies that increase voltage up to 20V in order to deliver more power. No USB standard that I’m aware of offers 5A at 5V.

              As far as heat goes, these devices already need heatsinks and case fans, so the difference seems negligible.

              Also, good luck using a Pi5 any further than 3ft from a wall outlet unless you want to rig up your own power supply using some 14/2 Romex with a USB C connector soldered to the end.

        • Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          3 hours

          My thinkcentre draws power but not that much power. Also, just combine it with an ESP and you get the best of two worlds.

      • fonix232@fedia.io
        3 hours

        and you can replicate that nowadays with an RP2040. Hell, the newer Pi models already kinda do that with the RP1 handling GPIO (among other things)

  • redditmademedoit@piefed.zipEnglish
    3 hours

    I would have been in the market for one, but they were already a terrible value proposition.

    Meanwhile, Mac Mini prices have held stable at an already good price/performance ratio…

    • Humanius@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3 hours

      From my understanding Apple has memory contracts locked in for years ahead. This is a benefit they have for being an enormous player in the consumer electronics world. They can keep their memory prices “low” (or at least what Apple normally considers low) because of that.

      Other smaller manufacturers don’t have that luxury. When their current contracts run out they have to negotiate new ones, and they will be negotiated at the current market rate.