4 ms·

https://www.explainingcomputers.com/sbc.html https://www.explainingcomputers.com/sbc.html lists a few other x86 single board computers, but the only ones that c

https://www.explainingcomputers.com/sbc.html https://www.explainingcomputers.com/sbc.html lists a few other x86 single board computers, but the only ones that come close to the $35 price point that I know of are the Atomic PI (quad core Atom, 1.4GHz boosting to 1.9GHz, started at $35 and rose up to $50 per the video review) and the LattePanda (similar specs, more USB ports and needs a cooling solution) for ~$90.

TheRealPomax 6y ago
The Raspi hasn't been anywhere near $35 for the decent versions for a while now, though. And while the 4gb pi4 is $55, the 8gb version (which anyone who wants a pi would want because that memory makes a ton of difference) is $75. Sure, the 2gb version is cheap, but it's also borderline useless if you want put a pi4 to use as a computer instead of fancy arduino. And while they're both "computer-board-things", we can't really compare a LattePanda to a Pi: the only reason LattePanda boards exist is because they allow the same kind of prototyping/embedding as the pi, but specifically for windows. There is very little reason to buy one unless you _need_ a board that runs regular windows (because you need to run closed source, windows-only tools, for instance).
- NortySpock 6y ago
  I wish to point out that everyone's use case and performance targets are different. I have been happily using my RPi2 as a home dns, file and media server for at least a year now. While I agree it is constrained by memory, IO and compute, it is adequate for my purposes. Though I am upgrading to an RPi4 4GB, it is a nice upgrade, not a requirement (for me). I presume there are some people who wish to run x86 binaries on Linux or Windows, for which a LattePanda might be a good fit at a modest cost. I wish them success, which is more fun than failure.
- a1369209993 6y ago
  > Sure, the 2gb version is cheap, but it's also borderline useless if you want put a pi4 to use as a computer I remember when EMACS was "Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping"; there is something deeply fucking wrong with modern software if two thousand megabytes isn't enough for it to run smoothly.
  - anthk 6y ago
    I ran a complete KDE3 desktop back in the day with 256MB of RAM shared with Kopete and inline videos, Konqueror with several tabs open AND Amarok in the background. These kids are truly spoiled. Even with 1GB today could be enough if you know how to set Unbound + a light browser.
  - TheRealPomax 6y ago
    You say that as if you never bought a raspberry pi because it lets you use Mathematica. There's many of us who did, because a pi is <$100 and a home use license for Mathematica is $300+ If you need a pi because you want to run something on it that'll run just as well on a pi 2, then sure 2GB is perfectly fine. But if you actually need a pi 4, you need it because it is vastly more powerful and offers actually useful amounts of memory.
    - a1369209993 6y ago
      Why would I? Mathematica sucks, as you should be able to infer just from (in your own words): > a home use license for Mathematica is $300+
      - TheRealPomax 6y ago
        That's just a bizarre thing to conclude, I think we're done here.
- anthk 6y ago
  You must be young, kid. My GF's laptop is 2GB and runs everything with Slackware and even Chrome really fast. Double Celeron, Intel Mobile 4 series.
  - TheRealPomax 6y ago
    You must be confused, kid. An intel laptop CPU performs nothing like a raspberry pi. That's like saying "your complaint about going uphill on a bike is nonsense because my GF's motorcycle does that just fine".
    - anthk 6y ago
      Eh, GF's dual core Celeron craps on your Rpi2 and 3 probably, but with 2GB of RAM is powerful enough to even watch JS filled pages if use Ublock Origin. Cough, Medium, Cough. Is no SandyBridge either.
      - TheRealPomax 6y ago
        Right, so you agree that comparing a Celeron to an R2/R3 is apples to oranges. The devices are wildly different, with the amount of RAM available being far less important than the fact that your GF's laptop, with a vastly more complex motherboard, actually lets the OS efficiently use a swapfile. 2GB on a laptop goes a lot farther than 2GB on an Raspberry Pi.

TheRealPomax 6y ago

The Raspi hasn't been anywhere near $35 for the decent versions for a while now, though. And while the 4gb pi4 is $55, the 8gb version (which anyone who wants a pi would want because that memory makes a ton of difference) is $75. Sure, the 2gb version is cheap, but it's also borderline useless if you want put a pi4 to use as a computer instead of fancy arduino. And while they're both "computer-board-things", we can't really compare a LattePanda to a Pi: the only reason LattePanda boards exist is because they allow the same kind of prototyping/embedding as the pi, but specifically for windows. There is very little reason to buy one unless you _need_ a board that runs regular windows (because you need to run closed source, windows-only tools, for instance).

NortySpock 6y ago
I wish to point out that everyone's use case and performance targets are different. I have been happily using my RPi2 as a home dns, file and media server for at least a year now. While I agree it is constrained by memory, IO and compute, it is adequate for my purposes. Though I am upgrading to an RPi4 4GB, it is a nice upgrade, not a requirement (for me). I presume there are some people who wish to run x86 binaries on Linux or Windows, for which a LattePanda might be a good fit at a modest cost. I wish them success, which is more fun than failure.
a1369209993 6y ago
> Sure, the 2gb version is cheap, but it's also borderline useless if you want put a pi4 to use as a computer I remember when EMACS was "Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping"; there is something deeply fucking wrong with modern software if two thousand megabytes isn't enough for it to run smoothly.
- anthk 6y ago
  I ran a complete KDE3 desktop back in the day with 256MB of RAM shared with Kopete and inline videos, Konqueror with several tabs open AND Amarok in the background. These kids are truly spoiled. Even with 1GB today could be enough if you know how to set Unbound + a light browser.
- TheRealPomax 6y ago
  You say that as if you never bought a raspberry pi because it lets you use Mathematica. There's many of us who did, because a pi is <$100 and a home use license for Mathematica is $300+ If you need a pi because you want to run something on it that'll run just as well on a pi 2, then sure 2GB is perfectly fine. But if you actually need a pi 4, you need it because it is vastly more powerful and offers actually useful amounts of memory.
  - a1369209993 6y ago
    Why would I? Mathematica sucks, as you should be able to infer just from (in your own words): > a home use license for Mathematica is $300+
    - TheRealPomax 6y ago
      That's just a bizarre thing to conclude, I think we're done here.
anthk 6y ago
You must be young, kid. My GF's laptop is 2GB and runs everything with Slackware and even Chrome really fast. Double Celeron, Intel Mobile 4 series.
- TheRealPomax 6y ago
  You must be confused, kid. An intel laptop CPU performs nothing like a raspberry pi. That's like saying "your complaint about going uphill on a bike is nonsense because my GF's motorcycle does that just fine".
  - anthk 6y ago
    Eh, GF's dual core Celeron craps on your Rpi2 and 3 probably, but with 2GB of RAM is powerful enough to even watch JS filled pages if use Ublock Origin. Cough, Medium, Cough. Is no SandyBridge either.
    - TheRealPomax 6y ago
      Right, so you agree that comparing a Celeron to an R2/R3 is apples to oranges. The devices are wildly different, with the amount of RAM available being far less important than the fact that your GF's laptop, with a vastly more complex motherboard, actually lets the OS efficiently use a swapfile. 2GB on a laptop goes a lot farther than 2GB on an Raspberry Pi.