7 ms·

Microcenter sells them for 5 dollars. This is the first unit. I happen to have one close to my home so I've been able to buy a few of them, I just buy one each

Microcenter sells them for 5 dollars. This is the first unit. I happen to have one close to my home so I've been able to buy a few of them, I just buy one each time i go there. I am building retropie machines for my friends so i get them for 5 bucks. you can only buy one pi zero w for 5 dollars. but you can always come back and buy more.

LeoPanthera 8y ago
It's 5 dollars for one. If you want 2-5, it's $10 each, and if you want 6+, it's $15 each. This is exactly my point. It's asinine to advertise it at $5. If you don't live near a physical Microcenter, it's not even $5 for one, because they charge shipping too.
- Spivak 8y ago
  I don't know any stores that include shipping on their price tags. But you're right, the Zeros are so popular that the MSRP of $5 is difficult to achieve without them being constantly sold out. Hard to blame the market for correcting, they're worth way more than $5.
  - IshKebab 8y ago
    That's not how economics works! If they aren't making a loss at $5 then by now they have had plenty of time to ramp up production to meet demand (and save money since more production means lower costs). The fact that they haven't strongly implies that they are selling it at a loss.
    - ForHackernews 8y ago
      They might well be making a loss at $5! Don't take this too harshly, but the Raspberry Pi foundation's goal is to encourage young children to learn about programming and computer science, not to subsidize the IoT hobbies of wealthy adults who already have careers in computing.
      - qhwudbebd 8y ago
        They failed at that goal. Hobbyists, yes; hobbyists building stuff with their kids, yes; kids on their own or in schools, not really. There have been campaigns to get RPis into schools for free, but for the most part, they gather dust there. Whatever their original goal, they might as well embrace their only successful market and stop using 'it wasn't meant for you' as an excuse for every engineering mistake they make.
        kingosticks 8y ago
        Getting stuff into schools and getting them to use it is difficult. There was a push some years ago for Lego Mindstorms kit in schools. That stuff was very cool but mostly went unused - nobody knew how to use it, let alone create lessons around it. The RPF's work is better in that it's both cheaper and a more joined up plan with both kit and teacher resources. A big part of their work is running courses for teachers but training people takes time. That goal is expectedly still ongoing. The code club stuff they do seems pretty successful too. I have no doubt they will continue what they are doing and I think it's the correct strategy. There are plenty of other SBCs out there now (in response to RPi) which can embrace the consumer market as you desire. It sounds like you are looking for something that meets everyone's requirements; a product that makes no compromises in features or cost. I wish you luck.
        qhwudbebd 8y ago
        I'm not in any feasible target market for them anyway because I'm happy to pay significantly more for higher spec SBCs with mainline kernel support, avoiding proprietary boot loaders/threadx and long-obsolete SoCs. The current crop of RK3399 boards are a great example of that. But I do understand why the lower spec, lower price point devices appeal so much to hobbyists and makers. These people actually buy and use RPis in significant numbers, unlike the schoolchildren whom they keep aiming at and failing to reach. These people are the only reason for the RPi's success. The RPi folks would be better to acknowledge and take credit for the important part they've been playing in the maker and hobbyist movement and plan their future devices on that basis.
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      That's not how finance works either. Moving up from one level of production to another can mean acquiring new warehousing, creating new distribution channels, etc.. Can mean need to increase head count (and thus risk). Risks being left with excess product - eg if a competitor comes on the scene. Those risks are worth it, perhaps, to achieve higher profit. But if the risks are merely to satisfy some demand for cheap gadgets, rather than meeting the educational aims of your org, then "there's more to life, let someone else do that".
  - michaelt 8y ago
    The Raspberry Pi foundation outsource all their manufacturing, as is normal in the electronics industry. In the absence of component shortages, they could up production of Zeros by 10x or more if they wanted to. And the Zero barely has any components, so a component shortage seems unlikely. If there's such high market demand that the product constantly sells out when offered for the MSRP, why haven't they just told their manufacturer to make the next manufacturing run much larger?
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      I think this is reasonably analogous: My kids school has a "chocolate table", at their fair, you pay a pound and win chocolate, it sells out really quickly. Why don't they procure enough chocolate to meet the high demand? Or, other are asking "why don't they price out the poor kids - there enough to seek only to the rich kids at a higher price?".
      - michaelt 8y ago
        School's not procuring more chocolate because they think too much chocolate is unhealthy, so it should be kept out of the hands of children. AFAIK it's not the RPi foundation's policy that RPi are unhealthy or that they should be kept out of the hands of children. So I don't understand what you're trying to say with your analogy?
- foldr 8y ago
  > asinine "Asinine" means "extremely stupid or foolish", and it's a very harsh term. Are you sure it's the word you were looking for?
thinkmassive 8y ago
Pretty sure Microcenter sells the Pi Zero for $5 and the Zero W for $10. Still a good deal, and I also pick one up each time I go. Edit: oops, just checked and the Zero W is indeed on sale for $5. I think this is a recent MC discount though, and the official price is $10, which is still reasonable. It also puts the $15/ea for 2-5 units in a better perspective.
starik36 8y ago
I've tried building a retropi box on a regular RPi and it was too slow for anything but original NES games. How are you able to build these with Pi Zero?

LeoPanthera 8y ago

It's 5 dollars for one. If you want 2-5, it's $10 each, and if you want 6+, it's $15 each. This is exactly my point. It's asinine to advertise it at $5. If you don't live near a physical Microcenter, it's not even $5 for one, because they charge shipping too.

Spivak 8y ago
I don't know any stores that include shipping on their price tags. But you're right, the Zeros are so popular that the MSRP of $5 is difficult to achieve without them being constantly sold out. Hard to blame the market for correcting, they're worth way more than $5.
- IshKebab 8y ago
  That's not how economics works! If they aren't making a loss at $5 then by now they have had plenty of time to ramp up production to meet demand (and save money since more production means lower costs). The fact that they haven't strongly implies that they are selling it at a loss.
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    They might well be making a loss at $5! Don't take this too harshly, but the Raspberry Pi foundation's goal is to encourage young children to learn about programming and computer science, not to subsidize the IoT hobbies of wealthy adults who already have careers in computing.
    - qhwudbebd 8y ago
      They failed at that goal. Hobbyists, yes; hobbyists building stuff with their kids, yes; kids on their own or in schools, not really. There have been campaigns to get RPis into schools for free, but for the most part, they gather dust there. Whatever their original goal, they might as well embrace their only successful market and stop using 'it wasn't meant for you' as an excuse for every engineering mistake they make.
      - kingosticks 8y ago
        Getting stuff into schools and getting them to use it is difficult. There was a push some years ago for Lego Mindstorms kit in schools. That stuff was very cool but mostly went unused - nobody knew how to use it, let alone create lessons around it. The RPF's work is better in that it's both cheaper and a more joined up plan with both kit and teacher resources. A big part of their work is running courses for teachers but training people takes time. That goal is expectedly still ongoing. The code club stuff they do seems pretty successful too. I have no doubt they will continue what they are doing and I think it's the correct strategy. There are plenty of other SBCs out there now (in response to RPi) which can embrace the consumer market as you desire. It sounds like you are looking for something that meets everyone's requirements; a product that makes no compromises in features or cost. I wish you luck.
        qhwudbebd 8y ago
        I'm not in any feasible target market for them anyway because I'm happy to pay significantly more for higher spec SBCs with mainline kernel support, avoiding proprietary boot loaders/threadx and long-obsolete SoCs. The current crop of RK3399 boards are a great example of that. But I do understand why the lower spec, lower price point devices appeal so much to hobbyists and makers. These people actually buy and use RPis in significant numbers, unlike the schoolchildren whom they keep aiming at and failing to reach. These people are the only reason for the RPi's success. The RPi folks would be better to acknowledge and take credit for the important part they've been playing in the maker and hobbyist movement and plan their future devices on that basis.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    That's not how finance works either. Moving up from one level of production to another can mean acquiring new warehousing, creating new distribution channels, etc.. Can mean need to increase head count (and thus risk). Risks being left with excess product - eg if a competitor comes on the scene. Those risks are worth it, perhaps, to achieve higher profit. But if the risks are merely to satisfy some demand for cheap gadgets, rather than meeting the educational aims of your org, then "there's more to life, let someone else do that".
- michaelt 8y ago
  The Raspberry Pi foundation outsource all their manufacturing, as is normal in the electronics industry. In the absence of component shortages, they could up production of Zeros by 10x or more if they wanted to. And the Zero barely has any components, so a component shortage seems unlikely. If there's such high market demand that the product constantly sells out when offered for the MSRP, why haven't they just told their manufacturer to make the next manufacturing run much larger?
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    I think this is reasonably analogous: My kids school has a "chocolate table", at their fair, you pay a pound and win chocolate, it sells out really quickly. Why don't they procure enough chocolate to meet the high demand? Or, other are asking "why don't they price out the poor kids - there enough to seek only to the rich kids at a higher price?".
    - michaelt 8y ago
      School's not procuring more chocolate because they think too much chocolate is unhealthy, so it should be kept out of the hands of children. AFAIK it's not the RPi foundation's policy that RPi are unhealthy or that they should be kept out of the hands of children. So I don't understand what you're trying to say with your analogy?
foldr 8y ago
> asinine "Asinine" means "extremely stupid or foolish", and it's a very harsh term. Are you sure it's the word you were looking for?

thinkmassive 8y ago

Pretty sure Microcenter sells the Pi Zero for $5 and the Zero W for $10. Still a good deal, and I also pick one up each time I go. Edit: oops, just checked and the Zero W is indeed on sale for $5. I think this is a recent MC discount though, and the official price is $10, which is still reasonable. It also puts the $15/ea for 2-5 units in a better perspective.

starik36 8y ago

I've tried building a retropi box on a regular RPi and it was too slow for anything but original NES games. How are you able to build these with Pi Zero?