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Comment by michaeltimo | Hacker News Reader

Finding older models were also almost impossible in the past two years. It's unlikely that Raspberry Pi 5 will solve the issue. But even so, it's not a wise move because what is the point of bringing a new model when they can't make it available to normal people?

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The Raspberry Pi 5 will only be for sale to individuals until the end of this year (no industrial customers competing for inventory like the older models)

Plus, they're only launching the 4/8gb models to start. So there'll be another wave of cheaper ones a little later. Really hoping they still hit the $35 price point on the 1gb model.

> they can't make it available to normal people

I guess you haven't been looking recently? I can go to a local store and pick one up. It looks easy to pick up one online too.

https://rpilocator.com/

I think I've seen Pi Kits at my local target. The issue with those is, they're for niche things I might not care about and now I got tech waste on my hands, but also might not be the exact model I want.

Note I'm not disagreeing, just saying in some cases, the ones in-store are kits.

I wouldn't expect Target to carry bare Raspberry Pi-- how many people walk into a Target wanting a Pi with no accessories?

I have and it is still a pain. Many websites still have limits on how many you can buy. The situation has improved but it is far from what your comment implies.

Many websites still have limits on how many you can buy.

For a hobbyist / individual, is that really a big deal? I mean, how many do you need at one time?

Anyway, the claim all along has been that supplies would be "back to normal" by the end of this year, and so far things seem to be tracking that way. If you look at rpilocator.com now, the entire first two pages are full of green lines, which is a DRASTIC improvement compared to just 6 months ago. And some of the major distributors are getting in shipments of 5,000, 6,000 at a time of some models and having them in stock for weeks on end. So one can clearly see that the situation is improving rapidly.

That said, I will make no claim one way or the other with regards to the question of whether or not shipping a Pi 5 is a "good idea" or not.

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