ELI5: Why are SBCs nowhere to be found?

Decronym Bot , 11 months ago

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters | More Letters ---|--- NUC | Next Unit of Computing brand of Intel small computers RPi | Raspberry Pi brand of SBC SBC | Single-Board Computer

---

[Thread #5 for this sub, first seen 19th Jul 2023, 07:10] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

AA5B , 11 months ago

According to the Raspberry Pi tracker, they are becoming available again. You may have to get them as soon as they arrive, but at least it shows they are stocked again

roofuskit , 11 months ago

Because manufacturers prefer profits over the race to the bottom pricing strategy of many SBCs.

avidamoeba , 11 months ago

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity.

roofuskit , 11 months ago

The Raspberry Pi Foundation doesn't own factories... They have to pay for manufacturing capacity and thus are limited in that capacity because their boards are built to a very strict cost that they seldom raise.

avidamoeba , 11 months ago

Aah, that’s what you meant. Yes that makes sense. That said in Jeff Geerling’s interview with Eben Upton, where they spoke about manufacturing and toured the SONY UK factory where the Pis are made, they called out component shortage as the culprit. Specifically the BCM2711’s availability. Of course that’s his word. I don’t know if that factory makes anything else than Pis in volume that competes with it. Maybe it does. 🤷

roofuskit , 11 months ago

But even then, it goes down to the manufacturing of that chip. RPi foundation chooses it because it's built to a cost and they cannot afford outbid people for it. So again, manufacturing profits. Whether it's because RPi cannot afford to pay more for those chips to get what they need, or factories are simply de-prioritizing those chips for others that make them more money.