$200 isn't a big deal for something you really want, but at the margin, on projects that you don't even know you're going to bother finishing, it's the differen

$200 isn't a big deal for something you really want, but at the margin, on projects that you don't even know you're going to bother finishing, it's the difference between being able to justify taking a punt on it and not. That's why the Raspberry Pi is so popular. I agree with everything you said about using cheap microcontrollers to experiment with basic electronics projects.