this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2026
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Just get an esp32 or mini PC at this point.
NUCs and other mini PCs are better (for the most part) anyway. Many have msata or nvme support, replaceable and expandable memory, better cooling, more powerful CPUs, and some have the ability to add in PCIe cards. Some even allow for CPU replacement/upgrades.
For lower power stuff, esp32s are where it's at.
I'm not sure what the usefulness of using a raspberry pi is, anymore. If you have something that you don't want to suck power, ESP32s have you covered and will always use less power than a rpi. If you need a bit more performance, a mini PC will almost always outperform a rpi.
With memory prices I think a lattepanda is a better choice than a pi if you want a cheap PC
There are plenty of other chipsets that are lower in power consumption than ESP32. Raspberry Pi does provide the Pico 1 and Pico 2 for embedded stuff which is mostly great. Don't know if they fixed the errata 9 on the Pico 2 yet with the leaking GPIO thingy.
STM32, AVR based stuff, PIC, ESP32, Pico's. We got a lot of fun stuff to tinker with.
This is true, yeah. I'm referring to the "normal" rpis, though. The ones that are the most affected by the price increase. I struggle to understand the usecase for those.
It is that many are familiar with them, they have good support, fairly extendible and great community.
Also used in commercial solutions for those exact reasons.
There is cheaper and better hardware but the RPi has a bit of a goldilocks position.
Which have also gone up in price.
That said, the Pi was only really worth it at toy prices. By the time you added a reliable power supply and case, even they were pushing £100.
Yeah, the whole point was that it was like $35 and small.
They have but the other components don't cost much in comparison. You are pretty much buying memory and it happens to have a completed system attached.
Pi zero is still pretty cheap though. 512MB of memory should help keep that affordable.