VisionFive2[0] w/JH7110, U74x4 @ 1.5GHz, 8GB, 2x GbE, M.2 slot, pi-like gpio header, is less than $100, and thus a much more cost efficient way to get started with RISC-V.
0. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starfive/visionfive-2
WAS: I signed up for the VisionFive2 myself, but in fairness, the C910 in this laptop is vastly more powerful than SiFive's U76 in the VisionFive2. I don't have the benchmark results handy, but it's on the order of 6X as fast (higher IPC and 66% higher frequency), so it's not really a just comparison.
$1500 for a limited run laptop is actually not bad deal. My main hesitation would be what level of support we can be expecting. I have zero interest in proprietary kernels and distros (Many Arm SBCs, like Hard Kernels ODROID line, has this problem and it's a pain to deal with).
On my own primes benchmark (https://hoult.org/primes.txt) a Pi 4 at 1.5 GHz takes 11.2 to 12.6 seconds depending which ISA you use (12.1 for 64 bit) while a HiFive Unmatched at 1.5 GHz (same U74 cores as the VisionFive) takes 15.3 seconds.
So that's only about 25% on IPC, at least for integer codes in cache. The OoO A72 and C910 will get a bit more than that if there are a lot of cache misses.
Add in 2.5/1.5 in MHz and you get about 2x overall.
The real fun with RISC-V chips will start with the Intel "Horse Creek" which should be around RK3588 performance (similar to early Core i7?). A Horse Creek chip was shown (non-running) at a conference a couple of weeks ago and will probably be demo'd on a board, running, within the next month or so, and available on the next SiFive dev board maybe Q2 2023.
With that in mind, I agree that $1500 is a bit much.
[1] GB 4.5.0 40 (Crypt 7, Int 49, FP 27), but don't compare to Arm and x86 architectures as unlike them, the RISC-V code is missing a lot of optimization.
What version of U74? It has changed over time. Not only it got faster (both per clock, and changes to allow for clock increases), but it also gained extensions like B at some point.
This is particularly important with cryptography in mind; I would assume the crypt result is about that.
The price, OEM, and support story is a non-issue for the intended market.
I'm a firm believer that any machine packing personal data must have the capability to encrypt data at acceptable performance levels. And while I'm pretty sure I'm going to raise comments about hardware backdoor and state backed attackers I'm more worried about a thief or burglar having access to my personal data.
I have a couple of silent Rockpro64s running in a closet NAS and other applications. While those are not very performant they can handled 200-600MB/s encrypted data throughput and thus saturate a gigabit network.
Yes, they change over time. JH7110 uses the 21Q1 version. I believe. They have more extensions and are faster / clock, relative to unmatched.
However it doesn't have a case, screen, battery, charger, keyboard, trackpad ...
$1500 seems entirely reasonable for any laptop that is being made in quantities of 1000s (only 100 before New Year) not millions, regardless of what processor is in it.
I've certainly paid far more money for slower laptops in the past ... PowerBook 100, Duo 230, Wallstreet G3/266, 1.0 GHz G4 17" to name a few.
In raw CPU performance, it's probably similar to a Core 2 Duo MBP ($1999 for a 2.16 GHz in 2006). But it's got twice the cores, far more RAM, far more "disk", far better GPU.
The VisionFive 2 is more like one of the last Pentium IIIs or G4s in performance, per core.
What the world needs is something like ATX or ITX specs, but for laptops. Then anyone can make laptops/cases/boards/psus/otherparts.