Pc or RPi

[Benigneee]

I would buy a raspberry pi but a friend said to me to buy a cheap computer cause it's better to move with all the setup, we can do more things and it's more powerful. But i think a raspberry is better for learn. I would like to know if it's better to buy a RPi or a computer. Thanks

[fruitoftheloom]

I would buy a raspberry pi but a friend said to me to buy a cheap computer cause it's better to move with all the setup, we can do more things and it's more powerful. But i think a raspberry is better for learn. I would like to know if it's better to buy a RPi or a computer. Thanks

The Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the Raspberry Pi SBC for developing Education and Learning:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/about/

Therefore you buy what suit your needs, but for £55.00 you can buy a MagPi Magazine Subscription with a free entry level RPi Zero which is good value:

https://store.rpipress.cc/collections/s ... bscription



I personally use an Asus ChromeBit when want a desktop experience !!!

[Heater]

There is no "better to buy". Consider the following:

If you don't have a PC/laptop get a PC/laptop. A Pi is no replacement unless you really cannot afford one.

If you need small, get a Pi.

If you need low power, get a Pi.

If you need to interface to external gadgets, get a Pi.

If you want to build a robot or some embedded system, get a Pi.

If you want a "disposable" system to experiment and learn on on, get a Pi.

If none of the above and you want a want a PC, get a PC.

All depends what you want to do. And where you are starting from.

[Andyroo]

Search eBay / CEX / Craigslist etc for a cheap computer and buy a Pi with the money you will save

[k-pi]

If you buy a RPi - you need a TV or monitor, (preferably with HDMI, but you can buy adapters for VGA), a keyboard & a mouse, a proper power supply, a microSD card, or a pendrive, a way to download & install Raspbian to your microSD card, & a cable to connect to your TV or monitor.

If you buy a laptop, you are basically ready to go.

If this is your first computer, I would suggest a regular laptop first, pre used is a good option, as Linux doesn't need the power that MS Windows needs.

Then you can buy a RPi later when you have some understanding of what you really want.

[hippy]

I would like to know if it's better to buy a RPi or a computer.

It depends what you want to do and what your particular circumstances are.

If you haven't got either, and it was a choice of one or the other, I would suggest a cheap laptop or desktop is better.

And, if someone were asking me, and were expecting my help with whatever they had bought, I would say it's better they installed and ran Windows, better they bought something with Windows already set-up and working.

Others will, unsurprisingly, have different opinions.

If it is one or the other you can have the best of both worlds with a PC as you can boot "The Raspberry Pi Desktop OS for PC and Mac - based on Debian Stretch" which will have your PC looking and behaving pretty much like a real Pi.

If you get a Windows 10 PC you can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and you can of course run QEMU or a virtual machine to appear to be a Pi or other Linux system.

The best suggestion might be to get both.

[Benigneee]

Ok thank you very much i will reflect.

[mline]

... But i think a raspberry is better for learn. ...

What would you learn?

[cruster]

I would buy a raspberry pi but a friend said to me to buy a cheap computer cause it's better to move with all the setup, we can do more things and it's more powerful. But i think a raspberry is better for learn. I would like to know if it's better to buy a RPi or a computer. Thanks

If that's your choice. Buy a pc. HUGE amount of software available, you name it, chances are the pc has it. - far more so than a Pi.

[Heater]

Yep lot's of PC software available.

Oddly enough I hardly use anything on a Windows PC that is not also available for Linux and Raspbian on the Pi. Mostly Free and/or Open Source software.

[davidcoton]

+1

I have a Windows PC for SoHo use, the one "Windows only" app is a photography program -- camera/lens correction software (proprietary, never likely to be open-source or free).
Everything else I use (apart from Windows itself) is free and also available on Linux. To the extent that my laptop runs Linux and exclusively free software.
Of course, not everything available on Linux will run on a Pi. I'm not a gamer (apart from puzzle-type games which are cross-platform), so I'm not interested in video games which AIUI are mainly Windows.
So, it depends on what you want to run, but most things are available on a Pi with a bit of searching.
As to portability, it's much easier to pick up and carry a laptop than a Pi and its peripherals. There are ways round that, if it's a requirement. Remember also the middle ground -- just because it's a PC, it doesn't have to be Windows, many flavours of Linux (including Debian with Raspberry Pi Desktop)are available.

[hippy]

Oddly enough I hardly use anything on a Windows PC that is not also available for Linux and Raspbian on the Pi. Mostly Free and/or Open Source software.

That seems to be the typical case for many people. They could move completely to a Pi or Linux were it not for one or two applications which may be rarely used but are deemed essential.

One cannot blame the Pi or Linux for that, but one cannot blame the software providers either if they have no business case for providing their software on other platforms.

Thankfully the Pi is cheap enough that it is usually possible to have both, a Pi plus Windows, Mac, Linux or Chrome PC.

[Heater]

Hippy,

Yep, sometimes I forget this Win 10 box is not a Linux machine. It has all the usual suspects on it: Chrome, Firefox, Inkscape, KiCad, VS Code, Electron, GCC, Quartus, etc, etc.

I don't blame anyone for trying make money from their software products. I do warn against people buying them and locking themselves into life time payments for upgrades, subscriptions, etc. Still, if you need it to get a job done today and make money for yourself, why not. Just be aware of what happens next....

Yep, around here we are awash in Pi, other Linux machines, Windows machines etc. I have probably spent more on Pi than PC. PC's generally get rescued after they have done their time in some office. They come for free.

[hippy]

I don't blame anyone for trying make money from their software products. I do warn against people buying them and locking themselves into life time payments for upgrades, subscriptions, etc.

It's not just paid for software; free software can be Windows or X86 only, even entirely Open Source software may not be suitable for a particular Pi platform one has.

Software is increasingly becoming 64-bit only meaning a Pi cannot be used with the de facto supported OS unless one accepts being restricted to using some older version.

[piglet]

Yep, sometimes I forget this Win 10 box is not a Linux machine.

I keep trying to "grep" logs in a windows DOS box...those standard Linux utilities are so handy I ended up installing parts of GnuWin32 in frustration!

[jcyr]

Yep lot's of PC software available.

Oddly enough I hardly use anything on a Windows PC that is not also available for Linux and Raspbian on the Pi. Mostly Free and/or Open Source software.

That is atypical. How many use programs like Quicken to track finances, or Photoshop for editing, etc, etc on a daily basis? Millions I'd guess.

Sure, there might be mostly inferior Linux approximates, or there might not, but who would bother parting with familiar apps in use over past decades?

My take: Don't obsess over moving everything to the Pi. Keep using your PC for the everyday mundane stuff, and have fun developing cool automation, audio, and embedded applications with the Pi.

[dl324]

I would like to know if it's better to buy a RPi or a computer.

I think you're going to find that most members on this forum have both.

I use my RPi's for writing programs to control things with RPi's. If I want to do just about anything else (browsing, office applications, circuit design/simulation, email, Arduino, backup data, ...), I use a PC.

[DarkPlatinum]

In my honest opinion I don't think a Pi will be a x86/x64 computer replacement for quite sometime. The software that is out there is substantial but not on par. Furthermore, you can buy cheap computers second hand which will out perform the value of buying Pi + dongles + power supply + etc.

[Heater]

jcyr,

That is atypical. How many use programs like Quicken to track finances, or Photoshop for editing, etc, etc on a daily basis? Millions I'd guess.

That is why I started my sentence with "Oddly". If we want to consider the "millions" I will wager that most of them don't use things like Quicken or Photoshop, they just surf with Chrome. As we do on Linux.

...who would bother parting with familiar apps in use over past decades?

Not sure I suggested they do. If you have a paid up license and it still runs then for sure use it.

Just warning of the situation such a strategy often gets one into.