4 ms·

You don't need to buy a case. Also, the plan was $100 for the pi4+keyboard+everything combo before all this (lets just call it the 2020 era) happened. But $100

by nmz 4y ago

You don't need to buy a case. Also, the plan was $100 for the pi4+keyboard+everything combo before all this (lets just call it the 2020 era) happened. But $100 is still a much better deal than $180.

easygenes 4y ago
For something you use as a main computer, it's hard to see how the time lost on something 3X slower can ever justify the ~$100 saved. At least for anyone who spends a decent amount of time on a computer and is in the developed world with a job.
- turtlebits 4y ago
  Productivity doesn't scale with speed, or else everyone would be using Threadrippers. OP might be perfectly fine with a pi.
  - StillBored 4y ago
    There is a floor where browsing the web is _painful_, and the pi is definitely in that category on any site that isn't hackernews levels of javascript. I challenge you to give amazon or ebay a try on it, or just spend a bit of time on youtube. Things you take for granted, like being able to run videos full screen won't happen on the pi if your monitor is HD or better.
    - easygenes 4y ago
      Yeah, this is basically what I mean. Personally, I think the performance of SBC boards with Celeron N5105 is my baseline for "acceptable" performance for a desktop. Anything slower I will deliberately avoid due to the jank and inconvenience factor.
    - bluGill 4y ago
      The first machine I browsed the web on was running at a wopping 40MHz. We have a bloat problem not a spec problem even on cheap machines. Now get off my lawn you kids.
      - bee_rider 4y ago
        We have an absolutely terrible bloat problem on the web. Unfortunately, using a slow PC on our end won't solve it. If we could force web devs to work on raspberry pis or old atom netbooks, the world would be a better place.
        rambambram 4y ago
        That's what I did, basically. I forced myself to work on low end machines because there might be a chance my website system also runs in a browser on a low end machine. My website with this blogpost is holding up perfectly fine by the way, even with all HN visitors, peaking at almost 2 visits each second for some hours. Also credits to my webhost!
        bee_rider 4y ago
        It is funny to think of the hoops I jumped through to get things working nicely on an old Atom processor. My Makefiles were so good, everything was tracked compilation only happened when necessary...
eliasmacpherson 4y ago
it will throttle under load if you don't buy a case https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/best-way-keep-your-cool-running-raspberry-pi-4 https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/best-way-keep-your-co...
rambambram 4y ago
This was exactly my case. I spent around that price point, before 'the 2020 era'. The RPi4 definitely needs cooling. Luckily for me the passive cooling case/ribs works, so I don't need fans.
StillBored 4y ago
Not if its 1/4th the machine. These jasper lake/etc machines are usually between $100 and $200 new and are a much better deal than an 8G rpi, even at MSRP for a laundry list of reasons starting with they are much more capable machines. Look for chuwi herobox, beelink, etc The pi's were priced right when they were $35, because adding storage, case, RTC hat, powersupply, etc would double or triple the machine build cost but still land <$100 when the floor on cheap PC's (usually Via) were in the $300 range. But driving the price up for just a tiny amount of ram...? These days you can buy new windows tablets for $200 (from big companies like HP for example), and these low end NUC style boxes frequently for less than $100. Sure the perf isn't great, but even the worst are equal or better than the very aged A72, low clocked designs lacking even crypto acceleration you find in the rpi4. Never mind if your actually trying to just save money, midrange refurb and used machines from a couple years back will give you perf within a few percent of the current hardware in the same price range, and its going to be far more capable. (I just stumbled on a very capable i5 based HP slim fanless desktop, refurb for $109 on amazon while checking the prices of that chuwi. There are a bunch of these "laptop in a slim desktop" case systems frequently for very reasonable prices.)
jstarfish 4y ago
Tangential, but I learned the other day that if you have access to a 3D printer, there are a lot of free designs for RPi cases on the STL-sharing sites. Some of them add extra value by doubling as other desktop furniture (phone stands, pen holders, etc.).

by nmz 4y ago

You don't need to buy a case. Also, the plan was $100 for the pi4+keyboard+everything combo before all this (lets just call it the 2020 era) happened. But $100 is still a much better deal than $180.

easygenes 4y ago

For something you use as a main computer, it's hard to see how the time lost on something 3X slower can ever justify the ~$100 saved. At least for anyone who spends a decent amount of time on a computer and is in the developed world with a job.

turtlebits 4y ago
Productivity doesn't scale with speed, or else everyone would be using Threadrippers. OP might be perfectly fine with a pi.
- StillBored 4y ago
  There is a floor where browsing the web is _painful_, and the pi is definitely in that category on any site that isn't hackernews levels of javascript. I challenge you to give amazon or ebay a try on it, or just spend a bit of time on youtube. Things you take for granted, like being able to run videos full screen won't happen on the pi if your monitor is HD or better.
  - easygenes 4y ago
    Yeah, this is basically what I mean. Personally, I think the performance of SBC boards with Celeron N5105 is my baseline for "acceptable" performance for a desktop. Anything slower I will deliberately avoid due to the jank and inconvenience factor.
  - bluGill 4y ago
    The first machine I browsed the web on was running at a wopping 40MHz. We have a bloat problem not a spec problem even on cheap machines. Now get off my lawn you kids.
    - bee_rider 4y ago
      We have an absolutely terrible bloat problem on the web. Unfortunately, using a slow PC on our end won't solve it. If we could force web devs to work on raspberry pis or old atom netbooks, the world would be a better place.
      - rambambram 4y ago
        That's what I did, basically. I forced myself to work on low end machines because there might be a chance my website system also runs in a browser on a low end machine. My website with this blogpost is holding up perfectly fine by the way, even with all HN visitors, peaking at almost 2 visits each second for some hours. Also credits to my webhost!
        bee_rider 4y ago
        It is funny to think of the hoops I jumped through to get things working nicely on an old Atom processor. My Makefiles were so good, everything was tracked compilation only happened when necessary...

eliasmacpherson 4y ago

it will throttle under load if you don't buy a case https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/best-way-keep-your-cool-running-raspberry-pi-4 https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2019/best-way-keep-your-co...

rambambram 4y ago

This was exactly my case. I spent around that price point, before 'the 2020 era'. The RPi4 definitely needs cooling. Luckily for me the passive cooling case/ribs works, so I don't need fans.

StillBored 4y ago

Not if its 1/4th the machine. These jasper lake/etc machines are usually between $100 and $200 new and are a much better deal than an 8G rpi, even at MSRP for a laundry list of reasons starting with they are much more capable machines. Look for chuwi herobox, beelink, etc The pi's were priced right when they were $35, because adding storage, case, RTC hat, powersupply, etc would double or triple the machine build cost but still land <$100 when the floor on cheap PC's (usually Via) were in the $300 range. But driving the price up for just a tiny amount of ram...? These days you can buy new windows tablets for $200 (from big companies like HP for example), and these low end NUC style boxes frequently for less than $100. Sure the perf isn't great, but even the worst are equal or better than the very aged A72, low clocked designs lacking even crypto acceleration you find in the rpi4. Never mind if your actually trying to just save money, midrange refurb and used machines from a couple years back will give you perf within a few percent of the current hardware in the same price range, and its going to be far more capable. (I just stumbled on a very capable i5 based HP slim fanless desktop, refurb for $109 on amazon while checking the prices of that chuwi. There are a bunch of these "laptop in a slim desktop" case systems frequently for very reasonable prices.)

jstarfish 4y ago

Tangential, but I learned the other day that if you have access to a 3D printer, there are a lot of free designs for RPi cases on the STL-sharing sites. Some of them add extra value by doubling as other desktop furniture (phone stands, pen holders, etc.).