4 ms·

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the elephant in the room: CHIP's real cost. Sure, CHIP "sells" at $9, but "shipping" costs $20. This "shipping" cost remai

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the elephant in the room: CHIP's real cost. Sure, CHIP "sells" at $9, but "shipping" costs $20. This "shipping" cost remains the same per unit even for multiple items, even when they ship together. Given that shipping from China is subsidized such that actual CHIP shipping costs should be under $1, the "shipping" is clearly paying for the CHIP. Sure, CHIP is a solid device at $29, and the fact that the CHIP manufacturers pulled off a successful hardware Kickstarter is a feat of its own. But claiming that CHIP is a $9 computer is ridiculous. Additionally, as another commenter mentioned, the CHIP's cost total didn't include a display cable, $13. Re-run the comparison... and the costs come to $46 CHIP, $24 Raspi Zero.

yeukhon 11y ago
Here from US. Element 14 charged shipping + tax = $6.55 + $3.69, total almost $46 for model B. I ordered B+ from MCM (which I believe is also under the same parent company as Element 14) and came at $9.99 shipping without tax. Does CHIP order charge tax? I don't think the elephant in the room is just the shipping cost, the overall cost of getting this tiny computer up and running is beyond just some tax and shipping cost. You have to get an SD card, power adapter and an HDMI. Tons of people still run DVI or VGA. If you have a monitor without HDMI you are fucked so you have to buy a converter. I didn't have these so I got them off Amazon and the final cost probably came at about $100? I didn't even get the case, because I made one out of cardboard. If you have more than one Pi, you need another SD card, another charger, another HDMI cable, so again you are back to full price. There should really be just a way to connect all PIs to a single USB-powered portable drive. SD card is such as poor choice and a poor design decision choice. Sorry. PI is great for small project, but if there weren't fund for schools to buy all the accessories, I don't know if Pi would take off at $35 price range. It is never $35. Let alone in Zero's case, agree, definitely not at $5. Fair enough, marketing stun and it may be true that the computer itself is $5, but the fineprint "you have to get the rest yourself at another $30+" is assumed to be common sense. Oh not to mention the cost of waiting to get one of these tiny computers.
- icebraining 11y ago
  $100 for an USB power adapter, an SD card and an HDMI cable? You got ripped off. You can get the three for less than $20. 16GB Kingston card: $5.26 AmazonBasics USB charger (2 Amp): $5.99 AmazonBasics high-speed HDMI cable: $4.82
  - yeukhon 11y ago
    It reads " the final cost probably came at about $100", which means including model B+, shipping cost and everything.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      Sorry. That said, it's still way too much. Adafruit sells the B+ with tax + shipping for $40.26. Adding up, it's still less than $60.
      - yeukhon 11y ago
        1. Because it shows how much one have to spend for the more expensive model. 2. I don't not know Adafruit, but most people I know got their PI from one of the partners. If we got ripped off, that's a fault on RPF (https://www.raspberrypi.org/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/). I actually mixed up model B and model B+, I owned both. Model B is the more recent one is more expensive. But I got both when they first came out, so equally just ordering from the approved distributor the cost was pretty much the same. I am not going to argue cent by cent with you, the final bill for each setup came around $100, and at the time they were the cheapest and most reliable. Also, there have been many reports on which SD card is better for the model, so I didn't just pick a random cheapest SD card. Your mileage varies. Whether I got ripped off any $10, $20 or not, the end result is still the same. The overall cost is larger.
        wolfgke 11y ago
        > I actually mixed up model B and model B+, I owned both. Model B is the more recent one is more expensive. "Raspberry Pi Model B+" (renamed to "Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+", when Raspberry Pi 2 came out) is more recent than "Raspberry Pi (1) Model B": > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
Artemis2 11y ago
They actually lowered their shipping costs at the end of the campaign. I had the option to add $3 to my initial order for an additional C.H.I.P. Still expensive, but better.
Gys 11y ago
According to Ars Technica shipping starts at $6 to the US: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/remember-that-9-computer-for-one-day-only-itll-be-8-plus-shipping/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/remember-that-9-comp...

yeukhon 11y ago

Here from US. Element 14 charged shipping + tax = $6.55 + $3.69, total almost $46 for model B. I ordered B+ from MCM (which I believe is also under the same parent company as Element 14) and came at $9.99 shipping without tax. Does CHIP order charge tax? I don't think the elephant in the room is just the shipping cost, the overall cost of getting this tiny computer up and running is beyond just some tax and shipping cost. You have to get an SD card, power adapter and an HDMI. Tons of people still run DVI or VGA. If you have a monitor without HDMI you are fucked so you have to buy a converter. I didn't have these so I got them off Amazon and the final cost probably came at about $100? I didn't even get the case, because I made one out of cardboard. If you have more than one Pi, you need another SD card, another charger, another HDMI cable, so again you are back to full price. There should really be just a way to connect all PIs to a single USB-powered portable drive. SD card is such as poor choice and a poor design decision choice. Sorry. PI is great for small project, but if there weren't fund for schools to buy all the accessories, I don't know if Pi would take off at $35 price range. It is never $35. Let alone in Zero's case, agree, definitely not at $5. Fair enough, marketing stun and it may be true that the computer itself is $5, but the fineprint "you have to get the rest yourself at another $30+" is assumed to be common sense. Oh not to mention the cost of waiting to get one of these tiny computers.

icebraining 11y ago
$100 for an USB power adapter, an SD card and an HDMI cable? You got ripped off. You can get the three for less than $20. 16GB Kingston card: $5.26 AmazonBasics USB charger (2 Amp): $5.99 AmazonBasics high-speed HDMI cable: $4.82
- yeukhon 11y ago
  It reads " the final cost probably came at about $100", which means including model B+, shipping cost and everything.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Sorry. That said, it's still way too much. Adafruit sells the B+ with tax + shipping for $40.26. Adding up, it's still less than $60.
    - yeukhon 11y ago
      1. Because it shows how much one have to spend for the more expensive model. 2. I don't not know Adafruit, but most people I know got their PI from one of the partners. If we got ripped off, that's a fault on RPF (https://www.raspberrypi.org/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/). I actually mixed up model B and model B+, I owned both. Model B is the more recent one is more expensive. But I got both when they first came out, so equally just ordering from the approved distributor the cost was pretty much the same. I am not going to argue cent by cent with you, the final bill for each setup came around $100, and at the time they were the cheapest and most reliable. Also, there have been many reports on which SD card is better for the model, so I didn't just pick a random cheapest SD card. Your mileage varies. Whether I got ripped off any $10, $20 or not, the end result is still the same. The overall cost is larger.
      - wolfgke 11y ago
        > I actually mixed up model B and model B+, I owned both. Model B is the more recent one is more expensive. "Raspberry Pi Model B+" (renamed to "Raspberry Pi 1 Model B+", when Raspberry Pi 2 came out) is more recent than "Raspberry Pi (1) Model B": > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

Artemis2 11y ago

They actually lowered their shipping costs at the end of the campaign. I had the option to add $3 to my initial order for an additional C.H.I.P. Still expensive, but better.

Gys 11y ago

According to Ars Technica shipping starts at $6 to the US: http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/remember-that-9-computer-for-one-day-only-itll-be-8-plus-shipping/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/remember-that-9-comp...