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Eben Upton Explains the Raspberry Pi Model A+'s Redesign
M-Saunders writes It's cheaper, it's smaller, and it's curvier: the new Raspberry Pi Model A+ is quite a change from its predecessor. But with Model Bs selling more in a month than Model As have done in the lifetime of the Pi, what's the point in releasing a new model? Eben Upton, a founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, explains all. "It gives people a really low-cost way to come and play with Linux and it gives people a low-cost way to get a Raspberry Pi. We still think most people are still going to buy B+s, but it gives people a way to come and join in for the cost of 4 Starbucks coffees."
Given the purpose of these devices, cheaper would be better than faster.
For most tasks, it has more than enough power. The pi isn't for people looking to use it as a PC replacement for productivity. It is a low cost board. The reason the RAM is always fixed at 512MB is because the cheap SoC (system on chip) is a PoP (package on package) design. Inside the chip you see on the Pi lives both the SoC and the RAM. There is no external memory bus so it is impossible to upgrade the RAM without redesigning the silicon and retooling an entire production line. That isn't going to happen because Broadcom isn't interested in upgrading an outdated (which is why it is cheap) chip.
It's best use is an embedded controller that runs Linux. I have used one for a little home brew project and it works perfect. You don't need 700MHz for a control loop to turn relays on and off. But it does come in handy when you want to make a web based controller. I installed node.js and the cloud 9 IDE like the Beaglebone and I had a web page controlling relays in a matter of a few hours. Sure you can make a web based controller in a much smaller device like the Mbed but having Linux makes it much easier as you have a familiar development environment and tools. And you can write the software right on the Pi itself, no need for cross compilers, tool chains or a separate PC. Just a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
You forgot to include "at a similar price point." Because, despite all the hoopla about its other features, that is the biggest selling point of the RPi: it's easy to replace a fried unit after a voltage calculation mis-places a decimal point.