6 ms·

Umm why is this thing so expensive?

pjmlp 3y ago
Yeah, for this price level I rather buy a mac mini instead, get my UNIX experience, alongside a proper desktop development stack, and the tools to be able to target both mobile OSes.
LeoPanthera 3y ago
(Very) low volume production.
mdaniel 3y ago
I would suspect supply and demand is the short version, but them bothering to put a useless "integrated colour touchscreen" isn't helping matters. If my understanding of computer architecture is correct, putting a VGA port also complicated the design. Trying to blaze trails by having a custom molded case is also just $$$ that does me no good They allege the XR2 goes up to 32GB of RAM but no price given for that In contrast, while searching to see what that ARM Rockchip 3588 CPU was, I found https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=171 https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=171 which is $375 for 16GB LPDDR4. No fancy LCD, or vanity case, though; how every shall I live https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=165 https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=165 may be closer to a traditional desktop, accepting SSDs, shipping with WiFi6, and a cool transparent lid, but $799
- kcb 3y ago
  This is an RK3588 with 16GB ram option for only $149. https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Pi-Rockchip-Computer-Development/dp/B0C5M6WGNS/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=rk3588&sr=8-6&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Pi-Rockchip-Computer-Developme... Cheap aluminum cases for it are also available.
PAPPPmAc 3y ago
Right? Planet's other offerings are handhelds in unobtainable form factors where I'd expect to pay a massive premium because designing and manufacturing that kind of portable device is obscenely expensive, and there are essentially no competitors - and honestly, their gadgets are quite reasonable for the segment they occupy. These are desk boxes with Rockchip RK3588 parts in them, there is competition in that space. Yes, the fancy case with a touchscreen front is fancy and legitimately a more expensive thing, they've done some neat integration, and the IO looks extensive, so I expect it to be quite a bit more than an SBC... but an Orange Pi 5 Plus is an RK3588 board, and configured with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of EMMC those are like $120. Firefly has a couple RK3588 systems in less fancy chassis where the 8/64 configs are $3-400 depending on the IO... and the PlanetPC XR2 in the 8/64 configuration is $922.
cmrdporcupine 3y ago
It's all just a bit ridiculous because it's an SBC SoC with basically those kinds of specs -- onboard flash for storage, etc. but dressed up like it's a desktop computer. "nVME SSD via USB" -- ehhh. No thanks. I want an ARM workstation. This isn't it. It's a step above a Raspberry Pi, but not much of one.
- sweetjuly 3y ago
  > I want an ARM workstation. This isn't it. The RK3588 is actually a pretty decently spec'd SoC. It's a dual cluster with 4xA76 (P-cluster) and 4xA55 (E-cluster). Neoverse-N1 is nearly identical to an A76 and it what most cloud vendors offer and it's performance is generally decent. It's only four P cores but it's no slouch by any means.
  - fmajid 3y ago
    It’s half the speed of a 4 year old iPhone 11. So yes, a total slouch, like all the non-phone ARM SOCs, only useful in low-power embedded applications.
    - sweetjuly 3y ago
      Sure, but the iPhone 11 [1] is also 17% faster in single core Geekbench 5 scores than the Intel i9-9880H [2] that Apple was using in their top of the line MacBook Pros back then too, so "a four year old iPhone" is not exactly some old and unusably slow processor. Apple's mobile SoCs were (and largely still are) in a performance class of their own. Half as fast single core on the RK3588's P-cores is still perfectly usable for workstation activities, in fact that's about what you'd get on an i5-8210Y MacBook Air from 2018 [3] which I'm sure a few people here are using as their daily driver. [1] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459716 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459716 [2] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459261 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459261 [3] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21415175 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21415175
  - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
    The issue is the lack of real PC-quality I/O interfaces.

Yeah, for this price level I rather buy a mac mini instead, get my UNIX experience, alongside a proper desktop development stack, and the tools to be able to target both mobile OSes.

LeoPanthera 3y ago

(Very) low volume production.

mdaniel 3y ago

I would suspect supply and demand is the short version, but them bothering to put a useless "integrated colour touchscreen" isn't helping matters. If my understanding of computer architecture is correct, putting a VGA port also complicated the design. Trying to blaze trails by having a custom molded case is also just $$$ that does me no good They allege the XR2 goes up to 32GB of RAM but no price given for that In contrast, while searching to see what that ARM Rockchip 3588 CPU was, I found https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=171 https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=171 which is $375 for 16GB LPDDR4. No fancy LCD, or vanity case, though; how every shall I live https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=165 https://www.firefly.store/goods.php?id=165 may be closer to a traditional desktop, accepting SSDs, shipping with WiFi6, and a cool transparent lid, but $799

kcb 3y ago
This is an RK3588 with 16GB ram option for only $149. https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Pi-Rockchip-Computer-Development/dp/B0C5M6WGNS/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=rk3588&sr=8-6&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.18ed3cb5-28d5-4975-8bc7-93deae8f9840&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Pi-Rockchip-Computer-Developme... Cheap aluminum cases for it are also available.

PAPPPmAc 3y ago

Right? Planet's other offerings are handhelds in unobtainable form factors where I'd expect to pay a massive premium because designing and manufacturing that kind of portable device is obscenely expensive, and there are essentially no competitors - and honestly, their gadgets are quite reasonable for the segment they occupy. These are desk boxes with Rockchip RK3588 parts in them, there is competition in that space. Yes, the fancy case with a touchscreen front is fancy and legitimately a more expensive thing, they've done some neat integration, and the IO looks extensive, so I expect it to be quite a bit more than an SBC... but an Orange Pi 5 Plus is an RK3588 board, and configured with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of EMMC those are like $120. Firefly has a couple RK3588 systems in less fancy chassis where the 8/64 configs are $3-400 depending on the IO... and the PlanetPC XR2 in the 8/64 configuration is $922.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

It's all just a bit ridiculous because it's an SBC SoC with basically those kinds of specs -- onboard flash for storage, etc. but dressed up like it's a desktop computer. "nVME SSD via USB" -- ehhh. No thanks. I want an ARM workstation. This isn't it. It's a step above a Raspberry Pi, but not much of one.

sweetjuly 3y ago
> I want an ARM workstation. This isn't it. The RK3588 is actually a pretty decently spec'd SoC. It's a dual cluster with 4xA76 (P-cluster) and 4xA55 (E-cluster). Neoverse-N1 is nearly identical to an A76 and it what most cloud vendors offer and it's performance is generally decent. It's only four P cores but it's no slouch by any means.
- fmajid 3y ago
  It’s half the speed of a 4 year old iPhone 11. So yes, a total slouch, like all the non-phone ARM SOCs, only useful in low-power embedded applications.
  - sweetjuly 3y ago
    Sure, but the iPhone 11 [1] is also 17% faster in single core Geekbench 5 scores than the Intel i9-9880H [2] that Apple was using in their top of the line MacBook Pros back then too, so "a four year old iPhone" is not exactly some old and unusably slow processor. Apple's mobile SoCs were (and largely still are) in a performance class of their own. Half as fast single core on the RK3588's P-cores is still perfectly usable for workstation activities, in fact that's about what you'd get on an i5-8210Y MacBook Air from 2018 [3] which I'm sure a few people here are using as their daily driver. [1] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459716 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459716 [2] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459261 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21459261 [3] https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21415175 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/21415175
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  The issue is the lack of real PC-quality I/O interfaces.