Re: Rpi considerations

Deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> wrote:

 
I bought Acresser devices in 2007/2008 right before the financial melt down.
They cost 250 US and were kind of picky to set up. Last year one of them
died (well the ide-to-CF controller gave up). The cool thing about those
were that they used max.12W. I started looking everywhere (in the west). I
couldn't find anything useful. Min. power consumption >60W and costs >600,-
... and then I went to Alibaba/AliExpres ... it felt like I found a
treasury.

Ah but will they last so long? A SBC at half the price costs you more
if you have to buy three replacements over the lifespan of the
expensive one. Then there's the many hours wasted working around the
failure and re-ordering, after which you'll be inclined to buy a
second one as a spare anyway.

Many years ago I experimented with buying computer-related devices
off AliExpress and Chinese Ebay sellers. Most failed much sooner
than I expect from such gear, if they worked at all. When looking
for a saving now my preference has turned to buying second-hand
models from a good brand off Ebay or similar websites. Even used
devices have proven more reliable than AliExpress standard stuff,
plus the used sellers aren't so busy trying to trick you into
thinking you're buying something you're not (and sometimes not
sending your order if you pick a good deal that they listed by
accident!) like on AliExpress. Often it's actually cheaper too,
if you have the patience to wait for the right listing to come
along.

For things without electronics in them like cables and connectors,
I use AliExpress a lot though. I just don't trust them with a
transistor. Though I did buy some allegedly (and authentic looking)
second-hand known-brand RAM from China on Ebay and that has lasted
well.

BTW the NUC and the kind of are not bad - but non had more than one LAN port
+ power consumption + price.

Yeah I ruled out the NUCs on power consumption, but now I see from
the mentioned spreadsheet that the idle power can be far below the
PSU specs, they're back as an option.

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