After testing the Raspberry Pi’s fifth generation, we’re less than impressed. We’re struggling to find a practical use for the device’s performance. The price tag of 70 euros is particularly steep for us, making it prohibitive for quick tinkering and experiments. We believe the Raspberry Pi Foundation might be heading in the wrong direction.
This suspicion arose during the Raspberry Pi 5 launch, where we suggested cheaper alternatives. However, finding such alternatives has proven challenging for several reasons.
High expectations at a low price
What are we looking for in an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 5? Essentially, a single-board computer that convinces us within a reasonable price range, reminiscent of the early Raspberry Pi days with its surprises and versatile applications: from a DIY computer to a mini home server or the first desktop for those wanting to take initial steps into a Linux-based system.
Especially in comparison to similar devices, Raspberry Pi’s support for Linux has been excellent for years. This is attributed to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Broadcom, the SoC manufacturer, closely collaborating to provide free Linux drivers for the mainline kernel.
Hardware support is available across various Linux distributions, allowing users to dive right in without struggling with external drivers, outdated kernels, or binary blobs. This ensures long-term update capabilities.
Ideally, the device shouldn’t exceed the price range of around 40 euros. Considering the improving manufacturing technology, multiple manufacturers, and the emergence of inexpensive competition from China, this shouldn’t pose a problem—or so we hope.
Boards ready for quick deployment
Regarding full-size DIY computers with Ethernet connections, multiple USB ports, and ideally, full-sized HDMI ports, we see the advantage in most users being able to set up these boards at home right out of the box. The necessary peripherals should already be available. Hence, we exclude compute modules from our search criteria.
However, our designated price range combined with the desired form factor quickly becomes a self-imposed dilemma. The selection beyond the realm of Raspberry Pi is rather limited. Additionally, several technical criteria are dampening our enthusiasm for shopping and tinkering.
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