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C.H.I.P. vs Pi Zero: Which Sub-$10 Computer Is Better? (makezine.com)
Make Magazine weighs in on an issue that's suddenly relevant in a world where less than $10 can buy a new, (nominally) complete computer. Which one makes most sense? Both the $9 C.H.I.P and the newest, stripped-down Raspberry Pi model have pluses and minuses, but to make either one actually useful takes some additional hardware; at their low prices, it's not surprising that neither one comes with so much as a case. The two make different trade-offs, despite being just a few dollars apart in ticket price. C.H.I.P. comes with built-in storage that rPi lacks, for instance, but the newest Pi, like its forebears, has built in HDMI output. Make's upshot?
The cost of owning either a C.H.I.P. or a Pi is a bit more money than the retail cost of the boards. Peripherals such as a power cable, keyboard, mouse, and monitor are necessary to accomplish any computer task on either of the devices. But it turns out the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero costs significantly more to operate than the Next Thing Co. C.H.I.P.
Unless you get your hands on the MagPi or live near one of the twenty-five Micro Center locations in the USA, you can't get one Pi Zero for less than $9 even when they get them back in stock in the Swag store. CHIP is not yet preordering, they are still just taking email addresses. We don't yet know how much it will cost to get one in one's hot little hands, although my name is in to be notified when it happens. element14 wants $13.50 for one, because for some reason people who haven't discovered eBay are willing to keep sending them money even though they lie about stock on hand in the best case — which is what they did during the first Raspberry Pi launch. They weren't even fulfilling orders in-house, and they had no idea how much stock was at the fulfillment center, but they were reporting stock on hand. Ask me how I know.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Because it can EASILY be integrated into a project that needs very thin and small space used. No I am not interested in desoldering the headers. Plus the built in storage is useless. I would rather swap out a microsd card to update a system than upload changes to it.
And nobody sane believes the advertised prices.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
even that is more difficult on the Zero because it doesn't have full size USB ports anymore.
do you have some sort of physical disability that prevents you from plugging in a USB cable?
Do you have some kind of developmental disability that causes you to miss points? The problem is that the USB port now requires a special cable which not all of us have lying around in quantity. It doesn't make it impossible, but it does make it more of a hassle.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
On the subject of software, the rPi also comes with free (but licensed) Mathematica. Might not interest many people, but for me the idea of essentially treating it as a symbolic algebra coprocessor (via ssh) is the thing which is tempting me most towards getting a Zero.