Voice of the Masses: CHIP vs Pi Zero – which excites you more?
Competition is really hotting up in the cheap single-board computer market. CHIP, “the world’s first nine dollar computer” was successfully crowdfunded earlier this year, and now we have a $5 competitor in the form of the Raspberry Pi Zero.
While the CHIP does more out of the box, thanks to its built-in Wifi, Bluetooth and 4GB of onboard storage, it costs nearly twice as much and some have raised concerns about the long-term pricing strategy. Meanwhile, the Pi Zero benefits from the enormous Raspberry Pi community, but for most non-headless uses it needs extra connectors (HDMI, USB, network), bumping up the price.
So for our next podcast, we want to hear from you: which of these single-board computers excites you more? Have you already reserved a CHIP and/or a Pi Zero (or even have one in your hands)? Will the CHIP be a better option if it builds up a good community, or does the Pi Zero take the lead by its even lower price? Let us know your musings in the comments below!
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About The Author
Mike Saunders
Mike stores his data by printing out hex dumps and laminating the sheets. He's the author of The Haynes Linux Manual and the creator of MikeOS, an operating system hand-built from assembly language.
I think the PiZero will be more successful simply because of the huge community that has built up around the Raspberry Pi in general. There’s so much momentum behind the project in terms of resources (books, magazines, code etc.) that I think it will be extremely difficult for other projects to compete.
I haven’t bought either the CHIP or the PiZero, mainly because I still haven’t got round to playing with my RPi2 and MIPS Creator CI20…
if the chip pda addon ever appears i’ll get one but till then the rasp pi family suits me nicely
There’s no point in trying to get a CHIP in the UK as the postage costs more than twice the cost of the CHIP.
I have been using RPi’s from the start and use them professionally and personally. I also have tried other boards including various Pi lookalikes, VIA, Olimex and Beaglebone. The stand-out fact which keeps RPi ahead of the game is the support by RPi and the community. Almost anything you are trying to do with RPi is covered including sending one into outer space!
I tried to order a Pi-zero and all were sold out within an hour – that tells you something.
After RPi, Arduino is my next processor board of choice. For lean and mean situations where Linux is overkill you cannot beat them. I even have RPi-Arduino systems running. 21st Century Meccano I call it.
The CHIPs are down, and I’ve already got my fingers in a few Pi’s.
The PiZero has it, 1) because it is part of a family, compatible with other in the range, and 2) because it is British, and we are great at these resource constrained solutions, lastly 3) because it comes from a non-profit that is helping education and open source.
I think they are they fit the same space in different ways. The RPi Zero takes advantage of an already large community and compatibility with existing boards and code. The C.H.I.P. ships with different features, it’s approach to manufacturing is different and it’s also opensoruce but also unknown. Will there be a second round of manufacturing of the C.H.I.P?
The fact these two are competitors is a good thing, it means that this hardware space is growing. Let’s hope we see more and more boards in this price.
I have a RPi B which runs irrsi and I have RPi B+ which is my NAS server, not sure what I could use either of the others for
If the CHIP ever becomes widely available without extortionate shipping, I think it will be the better general purpose computer. But the Pi0 will be the better embedded device: prototype with a “desktop” B+, then move to the Pi0 once you no longer need a keyboard and screen attached.
The lack of network scuppers it a little, but in a few months I think we’ll see more Pi0 specific add-ons, such as a wifi dongle that goes straight into the micro-USB socket with no adapters needed.
Any hardware that is produced by the raspberry pi foundation will have a huge advantage over any competitor, because of the name recognition it has, because of all the accessories created for it, because of all the teaching materials that are tailored for the Raspberry Pi(s), because of a huge catalogue of projects that have been already made, and because of the community with the open source mind set that is behind the Rasberry Pi, which is very good for PR and outreach.
Always put the milk in first when making tea.
Green tea forever! Let the flame war commence.
Ah, an anarchist…I too believe “proper tea is theft” (Pierre-Joseph Proudhon)
Like most people, I think the Pi0 looks to be the overall better system. Largely because of the existing community already mentioned. The CHIP sounds like fun, and I should have one in a few weeks, apparently before Christmas.
I think the thing that appeals most to me though is the height of the Pi0. I would like a right angled GPIO header to attach to a Pi0. I don’t know if such a thing exists yet, but I assume it is possible to make fairly easily, you could then make much slimmer devices whilst retaining much of the functionality. I have just received a Pi-Top and overall I think it is very nice, but for a laptop it is very chunky. There is a limited amount you can do to reduce height while retaining functionality because of the USB ports and the GPIO header.
Overall, I think it is a really exciting time for computing, both projects show inventiveness and will let people experiment with tech at a much lower price than has previously been an option.
I am excited by both of them and lets face it, at these prices you can afford to buy both. Personally, having bluetooth and wifi built-in is a plus for me, so long as the kickstarter campaign actually delivers.
I’ve heard about the Chip months ago and wasn’t bothered to inquire. One tweet announcing the Pi Zero had me running like a crazy ferret round Southeast London ’til I got my hands on one. It might just be the marketing, but in my mind the Chip blends into the sea of devices I would get if I had unlimited time and money, while the Pi Zero evokes associations like “revolutionary”, “cool beyond description” and “they got this exactly right”. The left side side of the brain sees the price tag and chooses not to interfere. Plus I do have a sweet tooth. So yeah, Pi beats Chip any time.
The Pi Zero, because its primary aims are educational; reducing the cost barriers for people trying to get to grips with technology.
Personally I want a Pi Three with a few Gee-Bees of RAM, onboard wireless, and a SATA port. I would happily pay £100 or more for it. It could be used to raise extra cash for the Foundation.
I think what excites me is that there is a pi vs Chip. This is a competition that favours the hobbyist, that brings back the days where technology was not abstracted away from the consumer, that encourages indiscriminate experimentation. Our cups runneth over…
While I agree the pi zero is underpowered and feature limited compared to the Chip, its biggest advantage is that it fits nicely into an established ecosystem. This makes projects portable, scalable, disposable and gives a choice from a ladder of embedded options for your needs.
Pi and Chips clearly complement each other, not compete with each other, each fulfilling distinct needs. The only real question is Ketchup or Gravy?