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Comments (181)

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  schappim
  Some folks might have missed that memory prices on the whole are up [1] 90% since Q4.The memory used by the Pi 5 is up 700% [2]!Raspberry Pi are working the issue by releasing new memory variants that are cheaper[2].Edit: You can still walk into a Microcenter and get Pi 5 16GB for US $289!1. https://au.pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/2. https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/a-new-3gb-raspberry-pi-4-fo...
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  steveBK123
  It's crazy how Raspberry Pi & Apple prices have moved in converging direction.Pi 5 8GB is $200MacBook Neo 8GB is $600 (probably some edu discount available) Sure 3x the price, but it comes with - 256GB SSD, battery, display, keyboard, trackpad..So the Pi has slowly become too expensive for weird one-off projects and also price competitive with a cheap Mac by the time you add all the stuff you need to use it as a cheap computer.If Apple ever got around to a headless "Mac Micro", below the Mini, which had the same specs as the Neo in desktop form it would be even more stark. They could easily ship that for $400 (mini is $300 cheaper than cheapest M-series MacBook with same ram/ssd). They might never do this as it's enough computer for most people they'd lose revenue from those otherwise spending far more at the Apple Store.
• b89kim
  The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer with native support for UART, SPI, I2C, CSI, and more. There's a large ecosystem of HATs, sensors, and peripherals built specifically for it. Most mini PCs rely on USB for peripherals, which isn't ideal for embedded use cases. Additionally, mini PCs tend to be discontinued within 2–3 years, whereas the Pi has much longer lifecycle over a decade. It's closer to an ARM development board, and those alternatives aren't cheap.
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  Saris
  I really struggle to see where this fits in to most use cases. The appeal of the Pi back in the first iterations was being a relatively cheap linux computer with GPIO.
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  steve_adams_86
  So strange. I can probably sell my 4GB Pi 5 for about 40% more than I bought it for... 3 years ago. This isn't how computers are supposed to work, let alone Pis.I get what's happening, but it's strange to see it happening.Actually, could I sell it for ~10% less than someone would buy it new? Is there a market for used Pis? Maybe 30%, I don't know. That I can sell it for what I got it for at all is wild.
• bmurphy1976
  Hey, at least you can buy them. Small comfort but remember during covid when you couldn't even get a Raspberry Pi?Truly tragic we are going through this again but here we are.
• phyzix5761
  Its the same picture for all of them. Why load different half a megabyte images for each pi?
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  throwaway81523
  This isn't exactly news, that model has been at $350 for a while.It's not like RPi suddenly introduced a 16GB model at a ridiculous price due to having forgotten about low cost stuff. The 16GB model was originally $85 iirc. Then the memory shortage hit. They could either withdraw the 16GB model (maybe screwing over some people who absolutely had to have it) or raise the price for those with urgent enough requirements. They did the latter.Me, I'd like to see some large MCU's (let's say a little above RP2350 / ESP32 level) with a few MB of memory, but with memory protection, like old fashioned Vaxes with that much memory. That would allow running multiprocessing OS's where the processes couldn't easily clobber each other like on the current stuff. Many programs don't require GB's of ram.
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  xp84
  This is hilarious considering you can easily[1] get a whole ARM laptop with 16GB for $425 all day, and that will also include a screen, keyboard, trackpad, battery, and storage.I first checked for Mac Minis and interestingly they are much closer to $650 for similar specs.And obviously if Intel is fine for your use case, either the N100 type of mini PC or, my preference, an off-lease HP, Dell, or Lenovo USFF PC, would be like half that for a very capable machine.[1] https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=m1%20macbook%20air%2016...
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  tzs
  It has definitely been a crazy few months for prices.On 2025-12-18 I bought a RPi 5 kit on Amazon from CanaKit that consisted of an 8 GB Pi 5 with the official RPi 5 256 GB SSD, case, fan, 45W power supply, and some cables which came fully assembled.It was $209.99.Today it is $339.97.On 2025-09-02 I bought a Samsung 1 TB EVO Plus M.2 SSD along with along with a Sabrent USB-C M.2/SATA enclosure to use with my RPi 4.It was $64.99 for the SSD and $22.75 for the enclosure.Today the SSD is $255.00 (down a little from the $261.08 it reached last month) and the enclosure is $29.95.BTW, if you are looking for an RPi it looks like you can't rely on the prices shown on rpilocator.com.Right now for example it lists RPi 5 8 GB in stock in the US for $80 (Digi-Key), $175 (Pishop), and $200 (Adafruit). Similar for 4 GB ($60, $110, $130 at those three sellers, in the same order). Same pattern for RPi 4. 8 GB from the same three sellers in the same order: $75, $165, $190. 4 GB $55, $100, $120.Clicking the links reveals all the Digi-Key entries are wrong. Their actual price is the same as Pishop (whose rpilocator.com entries seem to be correct).
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  chrissnell
  My home cluster is built from surplus Dell Optiplex desktops that I got from BYU Surplus and added some RAM (before RAM price went totally bananas) and SSDs to. I spent less than the cost of one of these Pis to acquire all of them together.I later added a large machine that I used to use as a Linux desktop, with a GPU and 64GB RAM, which I use for generating OpenStreetMap tiles.
• synergy20
  For embedded products, 1GB can go a long way thanks for linux customization and such.
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  nekooooo
  we've lost the plot. this is no longer a hobbyist computer.
• Aurornis
  The Raspberry Pi 5 uses LPDDR4X. Finding 16GB (128Gb with a small b) chips in this size is not common. That memory chip is at least $200, probably more, even at the scale that they’re buying them.I’m glad they’re making it available for the rare cases where it’s needed, but for PR purposes it would have been better if they just discontinued the 16GB model until RAM prices came down. I’m getting tired of hearing “Raspberry Pi 5 costs $300” now from people who have no reason to buy the 16GB version.The 1GB version works well for simple Linux shell work and embedded projects. It’s $50.The 4GB version works well for GUI work. Let’s be real: It’s a slow device and not a desktop/laptop alternative in 2026, so 4GB goes a long way for the use cases where you want to do basic GUI work. $110 for the 4GB model (if you shop not at Adafruit)EDIT: Adafruit prices are higher for some reason. 16GB Pi 5 is $305 on other sites.
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  schappim
  Microcenter (another official US reseller) sells the Pi5 16GB at a much lower price[1].1. https://www.microcenter.com/product/702590/raspberry-pi-5
• dxxvi
  What are they used for? Its CPU's PassMark scores an average of 4,246. A quick check on AMZN: https://www.amazon.com/KAMRUI-Mini-PC-i3-10110U-Bluetooth/dp... uses AMD Ryzen 4300U (scores 7364), 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, supports 3 4k (maybe 30HZ) monitors at the same time. That mini pc cost $289.
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  alberth
  Raspberry Pi as a company does ~$325M in annual revenue.But I can’t understand what are the use cases to be selling 73M units.Would anyone mind sharing what are the broadly applicable use cases, because selling 73M units is well beyond hobbyist fun.https://investors.raspberrypi.com/
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  ge96
  That price I'd just buy an Optiplex or somethingI have 4 RPi servers in my house on 24/7 but yeahFunny different purpose but I bought a 2017 Pixelbook put Ubuntu on it, great machine it was $80
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  jrflo
  Who would've thought the $50 pi 5 I bought on a whim would be my best performing asset in the last few years
• LeoPanthera
  That's more expensive than an equivalently specced MeLE fanless PC, which is an entire Intel PC.
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  eahm
  The $35 computer, for only $350!
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  ThrowawayR2
  Even worse, continued RAM shortages and inflation might actually mean that will have been a good price in a year's time.
• fareesh
  was famous for being the $35 computer and it is now $350
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  schappim
  Are Raspberry Pis (UK country of origin) exempt from the 10% baseline import tariff?
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  havaloc
  Come on, a one gigabyte Pi is under $50. There's no plot lost, it's just expensive RAM. 2gb is $75. That's where Pi plays well.
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  dsissitka
  It's worth mentioning you're paying a $45 Adafruit tax here. Adafruit charges more for Pis.
• bitcrshr
  2 years ago I bought a Dell R630 for about this much with 128GB of RAM and 2 beefy xeons (for their gen, anyhow). Oh, how the times have changed.
• jadar
  Holy cow. I know I'm not supposed to be surprised given the memory shortage, but that is insane level.
• anon
  undefined
• akman
  Up ~50% about 2 months ago (4/2026)
• tamimio
  The other day I found an optiplex for $20, 16ddr4, 250 ssd sata, core i7. No way in the world I am paying $350 plus tax plus shipping for that!
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  dazhbog
  I got an i5 Thinkpad T480 for 100usd.. Rpi is a joke
• internet2000
  Sooooooo not worth it.
• drchaim
  i would say my first Pi was about 50$, crazy times
• teaearlgraycold
  If you’re on SF I can sell you 16GB Pi 5s for $280. I’ve got a few on hand (new in box).
• Joel_Mckay
  Or one can also get a better specification i5 or Ryzen 4650U laptop for <$260 with SSD and LCD, then hot glue a 32bit Arduino to the lid.https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100017489%204016%20601497625%2...Dram prices and Flash prices are inflated right now, but the pi were never focused on Desktop users. As a platform it no longer makes sense for many use cases. =3
• IshKebab
  Damn I think I have one in a drawer.
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  retired
  I’m surprised to see those legacy USB ports on a board where space savings is important. Do they do it for backwards compatibility with older cases and housings?And am I correct to see that the USB-C only does power? How do you connect your pheripherals to this board?
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  codingjoe
  I hate this timeline: How is a Pi marginally cheaper than a Mac Mini?
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  honeycrispy
  This is really sad. Me and my girlfriend at the time watched all of our movies off of a Pi 1 and a USB hard drive when it came out. Those days are long gone.
• hnlmorg
  I think people commentating here are missing the point. The cost of that pi is for the 16 GB of RAM. Which in fairness, is a lot of RAM for a device of that type.You can still buy a Raspberry Pi on a budget if you don’t need that much memory. For example, the 2 GB model is $75.
• jollyllama
  "Don't you know there's a war on?"
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  desireco42
  Pi even before these ram prices was getting expensive and kind of missing the point from my perspective. Definitely good to have them releasing new models.What bothers me is that now you need cooling for some models, and obviously price is getting too high.On the other hand... $50 for 1Gb version is excellent still. And you should be able to use it just fine.
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  greenavocado
  LMAO what a joke. N100 mini PCs are a hundred dollars less and vastly more capable aside from GPIO.
• k4rnaj1k
  [dead]
• bogota
  [dead]
• cladopa
  Every time I see entitled people crying because of the prices of a Rasperry Py I remember my first computer that had hundred of megahertz's speed and megabytes of RAM.I could do very useful things with that machine. So it is not the end of the world if we have to go back to a world when you merely have thousands of times more memory for 4 times less money.It could even be positive if it forces people to be more efficient writing code and wasting less resources.