Post
Sparkfun is now selling the Beagleboard xM (some 134+ units), priced $199 (ouch! excluding shipping/customs!) instead of $179 (or 141.77€ for Italian customers, excluding customs only) like Digikey.
I guess that only customers from some countries for which apply "export restrictions" will be interested in paying $20 more.. 
But... what to think if Sparkfun calls "sold out" on xM boards? :-)
Beagleboard xM !!!
RispondiEliminaWhere "xM" stands for:
- eXtra Memory: 512Mb RAM
(rev C4 had 256Mb)
- eXtra Megahertz: 1Ghz clock
(rev C4 was 600MHz)
- eXtra Millimeters: 85x86mm footprint
(rev C4 was something like 78x77mm)
- eXtra Money: 179$
(rev C4 cost was 149$)
- eXxxxtra USB ports: four USB2.0 standard ports (yay!)
- eXxxxtra Ethernet: a 10/100 Ethernet port (yay!)
Beagleboard xM has some xxxXxxxtra features:
RispondiElimina- overvoltage protection
- the RS232 connector has a standard "Cannon 9 pin" jack
- DSP speed is 800 MHz (was 430MHz in the C4)
- the MicroSD slot is "push-in/push-out" type (good!!!)
- other features: go to beagleboard.org) (you may want to read the latest Beagleboard System Reference Manual (PDF) for full tech info/specs.
Note 1: buying on Digikey means that you first select your country, then you will see correct pricing. Digikey sometimes shows weird "leading times". Once it was something like 11 weeks, and in less than 10 days I got it!
RispondiEliminaNote 2: the most important feature of the Beagleboard is that it doesn't require active cooling. That is: you don't have to place a cooling fan onto it. This means that you can mount it anywhere (your bicycle, your car, your tank) without having to worry too much about vibrations, accelerations, and so on.
Note 3: it has quite low power requirement (down to less than 5V 400mA if you don't need USB-Ethernet-video). Remember that some devices (most notably UMTS/3G USB sticks and selfpowered A4-flatbed USB scanners) require a full 500mA USB port each. The four USB ports can source 500mA each (as of USB standard). Duh, this is not a "microcontroller board", this is a full-featured no-moving-parts Linux-ready computer! ;-)
Sparkfun just updated its online shop (no more ".php" in the URL) :-) ...cart preview is OK, but no more count of units left in their store.
RispondiEliminaD'oh!! I see now that Sparkfun says "83 in stock". Then it has sold 51 overpriced Beagleboards xM ! :-)
RispondiEliminaIn less than a week, there were 51 people willing to pay $20 more to get one! Geez, Beagleboard xM is the most wanted item... What will happen for Xmas gifts? :-)
51 * $20 = more than $1,000 !
RispondiElimina:-)
Woah!!
RispondiElimina- Beagleboard xM prices had a 20% drop! (xM: $149 instead of $179... C4: $125 instead of $149).
- but Sparkfun sells a fairly overpriced xM...
Currently Sparkfun has 67 Beagleboard xM in stock: 16 overpriced units sold in the last three days!
Digikey sells the Beagleboard xM at $199.95 instead of $149... and -weird!- it still continues to sell it!
I see now 51 units in stock... does this mean that everyone is buying at Digikey? :-)
RispondiEliminaCurrently only 38 in stock!
RispondiEliminaToday I see "out of stock"!
RispondiEliminaIn less than a month they sold some 150 units "overpriced" (199$ instead of 179$...) and in the meantime the original price fell from 179$ to 149$ (thus at least 67 units were sold at 50$ more than standard price!).
150x20$ = +3,000$ extra income for Sparkfun. :-)