new RPi model B planned soon

If the Model A is planned for March 2013, then RPF's banner headline will have declared the Pi as the $25 computer for a whole year by then.  Isn't there a law against such blatant long-term false advertising?

Best not mention that over on the Raspi forums. Can't understand why they don't just amend it to $35, it's still a remarkable achievement !

<Fawlty> I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it </Fawlty>

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

If the Model A is planned for March 2013, then RPF's banner headline will have declared the Pi as the $25 computer for a whole year by then.  Isn't there a law against such blatant long-term false advertising?

coder27 is being gamesome.  The link is to a 20 Feb 2012 comment where liz promises that "you'll definitely be able to buy Model As in March".  True, she doesn't specify the year.

Oh dear, that time estimate probably doesn't stand then, as conditions always change over such timescales.

Is there no more up to date ETA from RPF?  I bet that the subject of Model A has been brought up over there countless times.

PS. I agree strongly with Steve.  To show basic integrity in marketting, they should have altered the banner line to $35 a long time ago.  I expect the Advertising Standards Authority would have something to say about this if someone cared enough to complain.  It's just one malaise among many though, so I guess caring about doing things right took a back seat a long time ago.

> Is there no more up to date ETA from RPF?

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16534&start=1

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=18950&start=1 http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16534&start=3

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=22884&start=1

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=19480&start=6

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=22015&start=7

I wonder what "device" is being updated.

Interesting to notice that now they think model A will be used for industrial applications (hard to believe it is reliable enough for that kind of environment,) and that model B is the one recommended for schools and learning.

30 weeks lead time for the BCM SoC?, that really sucks.

Interesting post pointed by your last link.

Heh, I guessed on various occasions that the bottleneck was Broadcom's maximum fabrication rate of BCM2835 SoCs and not the board manufacturing capacity nor the chosen ordering volumes.  The evidence did point to it all along, as nothing else can explain a lead time of over half a year.

As usual the fanbois tried to deny everything and paint RS as the guilty party, but coder27's links above make the situation clear.  Not even RPF can obtain more SoCs for Model A, every one produced reduces the number of BCM2835 parts for Model B.  The posts indicate that the restrictions are entirely at Broadcom's end.

Interesting that the Model A will have only 256MB RAM, if the posts are to be believed.  I expect this is more a case of increasing profit than necessity, because the BOM cost will have plummeted way below RPF's original 10-30k batch values, and 512MB is at a pricing sweet spot now or very close to it.  It's probably a reasonable choice though, because most prospective Model A users are likely to be thinking of projects where power savings are beneficial.

If the expectation is that Model A will be ready by the end of the year then it seems strange that the comments by "official people" are so fuzzy.  After all, it's Nov 26th today, so "end of year" is so close that there can't be any uncertainties remaining about expected ETA.  Only a new problem arising could change the ETA this late in the process.

Morgaine.

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

Interesting that the Model A will have only 256MB RAM, if the posts are to be believed.  I expect this is more a case of increasing profit than necessity, because the BOM cost will have plummeted way below RPF's original 10-30k batch values, and 512MB is at a pricing sweet spot now or very close to it.  It's probably a reasonable choice though, because most prospective Model A users are likely to be thinking of projects where power savings are beneficial.

Unless the Model A ships soon, it will probably end up with 512MB as well.  Old timers here will remember that the Model A was originally to ship (in March 2012 ) with just 128 MB.  The inventory overhead of having two different parts will probably be high enough that they might as well do 512MB for both.

I might consider a Model A if it comes with 512MB.  My display/keyboard/pointer for RasPi is a Motorola Atrix Lapdock, which has a built-in hub with two extra USB A ports.  Right now the RasPi Model B's LAN9512 doesn't get along with the Lapdock's hub, for example a USB Flash drive works in the RasPi's spare USB A port but not in the Lapdock's.  With a 512MB Model A, there's a good chance that the Lapdock's hub will work better.  Also, the Model A will use less power since the power-hungry LAN9512 with linear regulators will be replaced by the switching regulators in the Lapdock.

But first I need to hear reports about how well browsers work with 512 MB versus 256 MB.

But first I need to hear reports about how well browsers work with 512 MB versus 256 MB.

I can report that everything is much faster on the 512mb model.

I have not used a broswer specifically but I have used programs such as gparted - which loads twice as fast on the 512mb (even with no overclock).

John Beetem wrote:

 

I might consider a Model A if it comes with 512MB.

I might consider a Model A for headless operation by plugging its single USB into an external Ethernet adapter.  That would probably overcome the Pi's USB hardware bugs, although not even that much is certain.

My original Model B is destined for framing along with a suitably blunt caption.  The Model A had better work, or I'll have to find a frame large enough to hold both, and the caption will become a lot blunter.