DRAM pricing is killing the hobbyist SBC market
9 hours ago
- #DRAM Pricing
- #SBC Market
- #Hobbyist Electronics
- Raspberry Pi announced price increases for all Pis with LPDDR4 RAM, including a $83.75 Pi 4 with 3GB RAM and a $299.99 Pi 5 with 16GB RAM.
- High DRAM prices, especially for LPDDR chips, now account for most of the cost of single-board computers (SBCs), threatening the hobbyist market.
- The high cost has reduced new board launches, with Radxa being one of the few vendors maintaining a cadence in 2023.
- Boards with more than 4GB of RAM are becoming unaffordable for hobbyists, pushing projects to older SBCs and microcontrollers.
- Mini PCs and used computers have also become more expensive, with 8GB models often costing over $250.
- The author designs projects to stay under $100 for accessibility, but rising prices limit project scope and learning opportunities.
- Raspberry Pi's post suggests memory prices may eventually decrease, but the hobbyist SBC market may not survive until then.
- Smaller SBC vendors face greater risks than Raspberry Pi, which has a microcontroller ecosystem and industrial base to sustain them.