5 ms·

I wish people posting pictures would take the time to include a ruler of some kind for scale. Looks about 3 x 4 inch, is that right?

by Sukotto 15y ago

joezydeco 15y ago
I wish people posting pictures would actually look at what they're posting. The picture in this article looks to be a Broadcom evaulation board for the processor they're using (look at the silkscreen). That ethernet jack with integrated magnetics is $4 alone. There's no way this board is $25. The actual board looks like this: http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jpg http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jp...
- mjschultz 15y ago
  Their own site has the same pictures that are on the original post: http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 Looking through the media section says that the picture you have is a prototype board, not the manufactured alpha board they're talking about here.
- icebraining 15y ago
  The Model B ($35), which they refer to in the post, does have an ethernet jack with magnetics.
- poslathian 15y ago
  Agreed. That could be a dev board (seems pretty dishonest though). I was thinking it might be advertising. Lots of devboard companies do this - sell advertising space on the silkscreen to supplement their income on each unit (see digilentinc.com who does this a TON). the $25 price point is out of the question unless: A) They sell at or VERY near cost B) They sell advertising on the PCB C) They are subsidized by a tech vendor selling them parts at a discount D) They are subsidized by a charity or an angel E) They are planning on making 100,000 units in one shot. At least SEVERAL of the above have to be true, or the $25 is just made-up nonsense.
  - icebraining 15y ago
    They say in the blog of the project that the model with Ethernet and 2 USB ports is $35. The pictures are probably from that model, not from the $25 one.
    - poslathian 15y ago
      Even so, I cant find an ARM11 chip for less than 10$ on octopart, and in the 700MHz range its more like 20-30$ just for 1 chip. For qty purchases that can come down to 7.50, but thats being REALLY generous. I have trouble believing they can buy a 700MHz (unspecified on their materials and I couldnt get it off their snapshot either) for less than 15$. The headers and other plastic is at LEAST 4$, USB connectors alone are almost 1$ in qty 5000. Add in the passives and other junk, and leave out the ethernet module and we are talking about a bill of materials of close to $20. Now add 1.75 for the PCB (qty 5000), 2.50$ for assembly, another $2.00 for testing, packaging and assorted costs (like shipping raw materials and finished goods to and from china, since US assembly and PCB costs are at least 3 times what I noted) and the bare per-unit cost is $25. Dont forget to factor in costs like - uhh - keeping the lights on in their officepartment - and even if their dev time is free they just cant sell that product for $25 without outside cash subsidizing the whole thing. In this business, distributors pretty much demand the product at 25-40% discount, so if they want to be in shops and catalogs, you have to factor that in as well. Consider the raw cost per arduino is probably around 10.50$, they sell 100,000 units a year, and their onboard processor is about 1$ and they have less overall plastic, passives, and other overhead parts than this thing.
      - joezydeco 15y ago
        From reading more into the project, it sure looks like Broadcom is giving this group a significant helping hand. Given that Eben Upton is currently a technical director at Broadcom while simultaneously working on this Raspberry Pi project...maybe I'm not so shocked anymore. It's actually refreshing to see chipmakers put out cheaper EVKs to play with instead of $4000 development systems. It's good marketing. I'd single out TI as the largest culprit of making EVKs hard to get, but I'm also inclined to believe they've been giving Beagleboard/Pandaboard a helping hand (like where can you find loose OMAP4s on the market? I sure can't.)

I wish people posting pictures would take the time to include a ruler of some kind for scale. Looks about 3 x 4 inch, is that right?

by Sukotto 15y ago

I wish people posting pictures would take the time to include a ruler of some kind for scale. Looks about 3 x 4 inch, is that right?

joezydeco 15y ago

I wish people posting pictures would actually look at what they're posting. The picture in this article looks to be a Broadcom evaulation board for the processor they're using (look at the silkscreen). That ethernet jack with integrated magnetics is $4 alone. There's no way this board is $25. The actual board looks like this: http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jpg http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry2.jp...

mjschultz 15y ago
Their own site has the same pictures that are on the original post: http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=78 Looking through the media section says that the picture you have is a prototype board, not the manufactured alpha board they're talking about here.
icebraining 15y ago
The Model B ($35), which they refer to in the post, does have an ethernet jack with magnetics.
poslathian 15y ago
Agreed. That could be a dev board (seems pretty dishonest though). I was thinking it might be advertising. Lots of devboard companies do this - sell advertising space on the silkscreen to supplement their income on each unit (see digilentinc.com who does this a TON). the $25 price point is out of the question unless: A) They sell at or VERY near cost B) They sell advertising on the PCB C) They are subsidized by a tech vendor selling them parts at a discount D) They are subsidized by a charity or an angel E) They are planning on making 100,000 units in one shot. At least SEVERAL of the above have to be true, or the $25 is just made-up nonsense.
- icebraining 15y ago
  They say in the blog of the project that the model with Ethernet and 2 USB ports is $35. The pictures are probably from that model, not from the $25 one.
  - poslathian 15y ago
    Even so, I cant find an ARM11 chip for less than 10$ on octopart, and in the 700MHz range its more like 20-30$ just for 1 chip. For qty purchases that can come down to 7.50, but thats being REALLY generous. I have trouble believing they can buy a 700MHz (unspecified on their materials and I couldnt get it off their snapshot either) for less than 15$. The headers and other plastic is at LEAST 4$, USB connectors alone are almost 1$ in qty 5000. Add in the passives and other junk, and leave out the ethernet module and we are talking about a bill of materials of close to $20. Now add 1.75 for the PCB (qty 5000), 2.50$ for assembly, another $2.00 for testing, packaging and assorted costs (like shipping raw materials and finished goods to and from china, since US assembly and PCB costs are at least 3 times what I noted) and the bare per-unit cost is $25. Dont forget to factor in costs like - uhh - keeping the lights on in their officepartment - and even if their dev time is free they just cant sell that product for $25 without outside cash subsidizing the whole thing. In this business, distributors pretty much demand the product at 25-40% discount, so if they want to be in shops and catalogs, you have to factor that in as well. Consider the raw cost per arduino is probably around 10.50$, they sell 100,000 units a year, and their onboard processor is about 1$ and they have less overall plastic, passives, and other overhead parts than this thing.
    - joezydeco 15y ago
      From reading more into the project, it sure looks like Broadcom is giving this group a significant helping hand. Given that Eben Upton is currently a technical director at Broadcom while simultaneously working on this Raspberry Pi project...maybe I'm not so shocked anymore. It's actually refreshing to see chipmakers put out cheaper EVKs to play with instead of $4000 development systems. It's good marketing. I'd single out TI as the largest culprit of making EVKs hard to get, but I'm also inclined to believe they've been giving Beagleboard/Pandaboard a helping hand (like where can you find loose OMAP4s on the market? I sure can't.)