I think the ecosystem has some more benefits besides that. Ready to use case, cooler, camera, display options and lots of resources for putting these things together compared to NUCs/minipcs. I do like how the compute modules are even more flexible with the ability to choose from various carrier boards. Really depends on your use case which makes the most sense.
Low power draw but ridiculous power supply requirements of 5V5A (depending on the model) with a USB-C connector which isnt a thing outside of this specific application meaning they’re going to be expensive and hard to source. They should have just done a barrel plug or put an effing voltage regulator on board like Arduinos.
It really needs USB-PD support with an onboard regulator, but of course that would be way too crazy to implement.
Pi’s were cool up until the 3b and everything after has just not been good for the form factor.
Conveniently, the 3B was about the time they started prioritizing selling volume to commercial customers.
Low power draw but ridiculous power supply requirements of 5V5A (depending on the model) with a USB-C connector which isnt a thing outside of this specific application meaning
they’re going to be expensive and hard to source.
That’s only for the Pi 5 (the highest end unit), and I’ll agree that at that level its hard to justify a Pi over a larger computer. Even for the Pi 5 its not that hard to find those Power Supplies. Most laptops today use power supplies that meet or exceed those specs. You’re right that those are more expensive than Pi 4 and below Power Supplies.
They should have just done a barrel plug or put an effing voltage regulator on board like Arduinos.
Again, no defense of Pi 5 from me. However, for everything below Pi 5, HARD PASS on a voltage regulator. I don’t want that heat in the tiny Pi case. At the lower power requirements of Pi4 and below USB power is fine.
Most laptops today use power supplies that meet or exceed those specs.
Non those are USB-PD power supplies that increase voltage up to 20V in order to deliver more power. No USB standard that I’m aware of offers 5A at 5V.
As far as heat goes, these devices already need heatsinks and case fans, so the difference seems negligible.
Also, good luck using a Pi5 any further than 3ft from a wall outlet unless you want to rig up your own power supply using some 14/2 Romex with a USB C connector soldered to the end.
Basically the only benefit the Pi has is GPIO pins for embedded projects.
Which a $3 ESP32 can handle instead.
Where do you get your ESP32s from? They’re $10 each on Amazon
AliExpress. I only use Amazon for stuff like this if I need it within a day or two.
Yup. If you really need GPIO + any real power, either go with an ARM board from AliExpress or do NUC + ESP32 with a serial connection between them.
I’ve been enjoying tinkering with the Pico. In my experience it’s easier to flash than an esp chip.
I think the ecosystem has some more benefits besides that. Ready to use case, cooler, camera, display options and lots of resources for putting these things together compared to NUCs/minipcs. I do like how the compute modules are even more flexible with the ability to choose from various carrier boards. Really depends on your use case which makes the most sense.
Pi is also a fraction of the power consumption (meaning also heat dissipation requirements) and physical size.
Low power draw but ridiculous power supply requirements of 5V5A (depending on the model) with a USB-C connector which isnt a thing outside of this specific application meaning they’re going to be expensive and hard to source. They should have just done a barrel plug or put an effing voltage regulator on board like Arduinos.
It really needs USB-PD support with an onboard regulator, but of course that would be way too crazy to implement.
Pi’s were cool up until the 3b and everything after has just not been good for the form factor. Conveniently, the 3B was about the time they started prioritizing selling volume to commercial customers.
That’s only for the Pi 5 (the highest end unit), and I’ll agree that at that level its hard to justify a Pi over a larger computer. Even for the Pi 5 its not that hard to find those Power Supplies. Most laptops today use power supplies that meet or exceed those specs. You’re right that those are more expensive than Pi 4 and below Power Supplies.
Again, no defense of Pi 5 from me. However, for everything below Pi 5, HARD PASS on a voltage regulator. I don’t want that heat in the tiny Pi case. At the lower power requirements of Pi4 and below USB power is fine.
Non those are USB-PD power supplies that increase voltage up to 20V in order to deliver more power. No USB standard that I’m aware of offers 5A at 5V.
As far as heat goes, these devices already need heatsinks and case fans, so the difference seems negligible.
Also, good luck using a Pi5 any further than 3ft from a wall outlet unless you want to rig up your own power supply using some 14/2 Romex with a USB C connector soldered to the end.
Pi 4 and below don’t require active cooling. I want to keep it that way.
Again, I offer no defense of Pi5. I don’t use it and don’t recommend it.
My thinkcentre draws power but not that much power. Also, just combine it with an ESP and you get the best of two worlds.
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and you can replicate that nowadays with an RP2040. Hell, the newer Pi models already kinda do that with the RP1 handling GPIO (among other things)