When the Pi 4 was perpetually out of stock, there were no real good alternatives for the projects that actually needed it. Yes, there were a lot of other SBCs, but the software support was not nearly as good as the Pi. The Pi 5 is so new that there aren’t really any existing project that would require one, so for those cases, just get a Pi 4. The stock situation has been much better the past few months.
For new projects, again just go with a Pi 4 for now, or maybe one of the alternative SBCs .
For those that want to build some sort of gaming/emulation system, for double the retail price of a Pi 5, just buy a mini PC. Or better yet an old business desktop SFF PC if you don’t mind the size/power consumption.
There are a lot of alternatives to the Pi 5 right now – no need to reward those fucking scalpers.
It’s true that there are alternatives, like a used mini-PC, or an Orange Pi. On the other hand, you can just wait a bit. It’s not the same situation with the Pi 4 being perpetually out of stock for years. That was because of ongoing chip shortages during the pandemic, and the subsequent backlog, which is no longer an issue. This is just because it’s a new product, so there are a ton of pre-orders. Some of those are scalpers who are thinking that the availability will remain low, and sustain stupid prices, but I think they’ll be disappointed. Once the initial rush is cleared out, it should be fine.
When the Pi 4 was perpetually out of stock, there were no real good alternatives for the projects that actually needed it. Yes, there were a lot of other SBCs, but the software support was not nearly as good as the Pi. The Pi 5 is so new that there aren’t really any existing project that would require one, so for those cases, just get a Pi 4. The stock situation has been much better the past few months.
For new projects, again just go with a Pi 4 for now, or maybe one of the alternative SBCs .
For those that want to build some sort of gaming/emulation system, for double the retail price of a Pi 5, just buy a mini PC. Or better yet an old business desktop SFF PC if you don’t mind the size/power consumption.
There are a lot of alternatives to the Pi 5 right now – no need to reward those fucking scalpers.
It’s true that there are alternatives, like a used mini-PC, or an Orange Pi. On the other hand, you can just wait a bit. It’s not the same situation with the Pi 4 being perpetually out of stock for years. That was because of ongoing chip shortages during the pandemic, and the subsequent backlog, which is no longer an issue. This is just because it’s a new product, so there are a ton of pre-orders. Some of those are scalpers who are thinking that the availability will remain low, and sustain stupid prices, but I think they’ll be disappointed. Once the initial rush is cleared out, it should be fine.