nikolasdiApr 2
Jeff Geerling

Yesterday's news about the Pi 5 16GB being $299.99 was *not* an April Fool's joke (sadly)—DRAM pricing is killing the hobby SBC market, and it's not just Raspberry Pi that's affected.

I wrote more on my blog, here: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2026/dram-pricing-is-killing-the-hobbyist-sbc-market/

Apr 2 at 6:46pmWeb
Show threadRon's Computer Videos🖥️📼Apr 2
@geerlingguy Illegal tariffs and a hands-off approach to AI regulation is going to be the end of a lot more than just the SBC market.
Show threadDrYakApr 2
@RonsCompVids @geerlingguy ...and you can add "unregulated quasi-monopolies being ultra greedy" to the list (e.g. 3 RAM makers dominating the markets and fixing prices, yet again).
Show threadBurak GürsoyApr 2
@geerlingguy € 338.79 in a shop I use.
Show threadDianeApr 2

@geerlingguy

Almost every day donald trump discovers a new way to make life worse.

(I'm blaming, the AI bubble, tariffs, and the helium shutdown due to his stupid war for these price increases)

Show threadTockApr 2

@geerlingguy Rehashing the same advice elsewhere...

The best time to buy electronics was last year. The second best time is now. Take care of your things, because the upgrade cycles are all broken.

Show threadDrYakApr 2

@Tock @geerlingguy note that the oligopolists fanning this greedflation are exactly counting on such a rush to buy.

The best would be to ask one self whether you really need these electronics with those specs, or whether you could fall back on lower specs, second hand, or entirely skip the upgrade.
(less money going into the pockets of 3 Ram makers quasimonopolies)

Show threadTockApr 2

@dryak @geerlingguy Goes without saying, if you don't need, please save your money.

But take care of your things! (Maybe replace your phone case if it already took a bad hit, or get a better bag for your laptop than a dinky little sleeve.)

Show threadSpiritApr 2

@geerlingguy the most novel thing about the raspberry pi is the accessibility of the GPIO pins. If a project doesn't require this or the small form factor, then maybe it's time to grab a refurbished think centre etc.

Or maybe, do the math on what hardware is actually required for the project to run with a small margin for error.

Show threadSolomon SchulerApr 4
@Spirit
Even if you do use GPIO pins, it doesn't make much sense to buy a raspberry pi. If what you're doing is building a robot, you can just use a low-end FPGA and program that in embedded C or verilog (in some instances). You don't need to go out and buy a $300 raspberry pi, when a basys2 board costs < $75 on ebay. Again if you're just doing projects that don't require the general purpose computer power that comes with a raspberry pi, FPGA is a nice second spot.
Show threadDrYakApr 2
@geerlingguy I am lucky that I managed to snatch a 16GB CM5 for my Argon one up before!
Show threadDave McApr 2
@geerlingguy an N100 mini PC with 16GB RAM costs less, is a fair bit quicker... and includes a case and SSD. Unless you really need GPIO, these high end Pis are effectively dead.
Show threadstfnApr 3
@guigsy @geerlingguy in my opinion, the two main points that Pis have over something like an N100 or a Thinkcentre are GPIOs and running from PoE. If you need those, Pis are unbeatable, but if not, a used M720 or a M710 or even a M625 wins by miles.
Show threadDave McApr 3
@stfn @geerlingguy those old chips don't sip power like an N100. You'll burn through £50 more of electricity a year just on idle. And there's not as much of a performance gap as you'd expect either. If you need more punch, the Ryzens have capable GPUs for only slightly more juice.
Show threadflywheelApr 2
@geerlingguy Luckily I bought my 16GB PI5 just a week before everything exploded, including an NVME and and Argon One V5 - now everything is Arm.
Show threadsynlogic4242Apr 2
@geerlingguy wild. Macbook Neo is $600
Show threadnieuemmaApr 2
@synlogic4242 @geerlingguy My laptop would have been hundreds more if I had waited. Hindsight is 20/15 but gosh I wish I ordered 2x16 instead of 2x8 memory.
Show threadOfficeplantApr 3
@geerlingguy i just got a used m1 mini for less than a 16gb pi and that feels so strange.
Show threadBenisApr 3
@geerlingguy Your video made me buy the Radxa board with Qualcomm. Interesting hardware.