And also, for this price you can get a really nice N100/N150 laptop with a full HD IPS screen. That'll be faster too.
I think the raspberry pi is still a nice niche for when you need the combination of GPIO and fast processing (like a small AI model or something). But it really is a very small niche. If you just need GPIO but don't need to do much with the data, just pump it to WiFi or something? Just get an ESP32 (or pico pi though I prefer the ESP). Need a small light energy server? Just get a N100 nuc style box with 16/256 for 90€. Need to actually work on it? Get a Chuwi laptop for 180€
The pi used to be great to embed into electronics projects. But it's no longer cheap and it's overpowered, microcontrollers have WiFi now and cost a few bucks. And usually a full Linux environment isn't needed.
It also used to be a great little cheap server but Intel now makes cheaper and faster options and on AliExpress you can buy them with more memory and storage and PSU and case included for a price the pi goes for without those things.
It was nice while it lasted. But during the long shortage during the pandemic (and them prioritising OEMs so we were stuck with scalper prices) most of us makers and techies have moved on to better options.
I really like them, I have a really old Chuwi atom-based laptop of more than 10 years old that's still working fine, even the battery still lasts a few hours. It was even cheaper and I mainly got it for the makerspace (not too much of a problem if a soldering iron rolls up against it) but it was surpisingly capable. It was reviewed by Anandtech at the time (which no longer even exists).
I don't normally buy laptops at all, I prefer mini-desktops. So this is still my only personal laptop.
I think the raspberry pi is still a nice niche for when you need the combination of GPIO and fast processing (like a small AI model or something). But it really is a very small niche. If you just need GPIO but don't need to do much with the data, just pump it to WiFi or something? Just get an ESP32 (or pico pi though I prefer the ESP). Need a small light energy server? Just get a N100 nuc style box with 16/256 for 90€. Need to actually work on it? Get a Chuwi laptop for 180€
The pi used to be great to embed into electronics projects. But it's no longer cheap and it's overpowered, microcontrollers have WiFi now and cost a few bucks. And usually a full Linux environment isn't needed.
It also used to be a great little cheap server but Intel now makes cheaper and faster options and on AliExpress you can buy them with more memory and storage and PSU and case included for a price the pi goes for without those things.
It was nice while it lasted. But during the long shortage during the pandemic (and them prioritising OEMs so we were stuck with scalper prices) most of us makers and techies have moved on to better options.