4 ms·

Even if it were reliably available in such quantities, I'm not sure Pi's pricing would make sense in the context of any mass produced product.

by pyb 2y ago

pyb 2y ago
There are apparently products based on the CM (Ableton Move?), not sure how they sell these at a profit.
- Joel_Mckay 2y ago
  Design for Manufacturability paradigms sometimes generate odd choices that only make sense in certain use-cases. When scaling up to over 50k pcs/month the incremental costs do get ugly fast. However, for many of the same reasons a 3k USD PLC makes sense in many low volume long-tale market applications (i.e. pre-certified and stamped hardware.) Best of luck, =3
- hobofan 2y ago
  The Formlabs Form 4 uses a CM AFAIK and at a 4-5k price point it's not hard to see how they sell them at a profit.
awjlogan 2y ago
They are available in that quantity. They do make sense up to around that number, although the around 1K is the sweet spot. Laying out and certifying a high speed design (not just a noddy A9 with DDR2) is expensive and it's all NRE cost. The cost of the components for the CM is driven down by the combined volume significantly - if you want to buy 1-10K of those by yourself, you will pay a premium over what RasPi gets them for. You might not need a full 6/8 layer board for the whole product as well. As important, the software support is great as it's just a standard RasPi - you don't have to support your own custom image.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
Joel_Mckay 2y ago
Volume pricing on custom commercial Pi SoM are not common, but do happen at the Pi foundation. I have seen 3 or 4 products with these pi+Debian SoMs running network services etc. Getting them to be reliable is a different set of issues with dozens of edge cases, but its the same with every other vendor. Best regards =3
eptcyka 2y ago
Mass producers do not buy at retail prices.
- Joel_Mckay 2y ago
  Sometimes we do, but it hits both us and the end customer. Recall the chip shortages... =3
detaro 2y ago
They are far from the most expensive SOMs on the market.

Even if it were reliably available in such quantities, I'm not sure Pi's pricing would make sense in the context of any mass produced product.

by pyb 2y ago

Even if it were reliably available in such quantities, I'm not sure Pi's pricing would make sense in the context of any mass produced product.

pyb 2y ago

There are apparently products based on the CM (Ableton Move?), not sure how they sell these at a profit.

Joel_Mckay 2y ago
Design for Manufacturability paradigms sometimes generate odd choices that only make sense in certain use-cases. When scaling up to over 50k pcs/month the incremental costs do get ugly fast. However, for many of the same reasons a 3k USD PLC makes sense in many low volume long-tale market applications (i.e. pre-certified and stamped hardware.) Best of luck, =3
hobofan 2y ago
The Formlabs Form 4 uses a CM AFAIK and at a 4-5k price point it's not hard to see how they sell them at a profit.

awjlogan 2y ago

They are available in that quantity. They do make sense up to around that number, although the around 1K is the sweet spot. Laying out and certifying a high speed design (not just a noddy A9 with DDR2) is expensive and it's all NRE cost. The cost of the components for the CM is driven down by the combined volume significantly - if you want to buy 1-10K of those by yourself, you will pay a premium over what RasPi gets them for. You might not need a full 6/8 layer board for the whole product as well. As important, the software support is great as it's just a standard RasPi - you don't have to support your own custom image.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Joel_Mckay 2y ago

Volume pricing on custom commercial Pi SoM are not common, but do happen at the Pi foundation. I have seen 3 or 4 products with these pi+Debian SoMs running network services etc. Getting them to be reliable is a different set of issues with dozens of edge cases, but its the same with every other vendor. Best regards =3

eptcyka 2y ago

Mass producers do not buy at retail prices.

Joel_Mckay 2y ago
Sometimes we do, but it hits both us and the end customer. Recall the chip shortages... =3

detaro 2y ago

They are far from the most expensive SOMs on the market.