posted in Technology
Raspberry Pi is intentionally blocking RAM capacity upgrades
www.notebookcheck.net/Raspberry-Pi-is-intentionally-blocking-RAM-capacity-upgrades.1404979.0.html
Replying to @empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
the measure is primarily intended to prevent third parties from buying lower-capacity boards, replacing their RAM with cheaper parts of uncertain origin and then reselling the modified hardware as a higher-capacity model. The company argues that such modified boards have not undergone its validation process and could subsequently generate support requests if unstable memory is blamed on the company.
The solution to this decidedly rare problem is authorized resellers, not an arbitrary block on a very technically demanding upgrade.
That’s assuming this is the actual problem though. If the problem is actually “We want to make more money by charging extra for ‘enthusiast models’” then this is the correct tactic to ensure that you aren’t undercut by cheap labor.
Replying to @Godort@lemmy.ca
They already have authorized resellers, who they link to on their website. This problem would only come from unauthorized resellers, who would not qualify for warranty service. It might not help software support requests, but I don’t know how much support they offer for software since I don’t think they’re supplied with any. Anything hardware they should be asking for a receipt from an authorized reseller, and if the customer can’t provide it then it’s not covered by the warranty. And even if the customer can provide a receipt from an authorized reseller in their name, if it comes in for repair and has the wrong RAM then it’s not a warranty repair anyway (although I’m guessing for something this inexpensive they don’t repair individual units, they probably just send a replacement, so the counterfeit parts might not get noticed).
One consideration is that the community support would not like the fallout of shady 3rd party manufacturers/resellers putting out faulty hardware either.