I guess it must have something to do with legacy digital signage or something but still. Full size HDMI is fine because it's what everyone already has cables for, anything small could just be USB-C.
Couldn't they have even just gone with a single USB-C and done the dual monitors with an adapter? Seems like that kind of thing exists on Windows.
Like everything else in regards to Raspberry Pi, the answer is cost[1].
[1] Source: I work for an authorised reseller and was just at the Raspberry Pi reseller event in Cambridge last week.
I'd prefer a single big one but don't care too much either way, you don't get new cables, you get an adapter.
Much more concerned about the micro-sd slot. Biggest mistake and hassle of all the Pis.
MicroSD is a pain but it very easy to switch to much faster(OR SLOWER) USB flash drives. eMMC programming would be an unnecessary pain for the non Compute Module users.
USB flash drives suck too. And high-quality ones are almost always bulky. But doesn't matter, they still mostly suck.
And no, there is absolutely nothing in the world of Pi that is as unnecessary and has so much suffering as the use of sd-card brings.
Program via usb-stick, everyone has one. More people than have sd-cards for sure.
Or have both.
USB Flash Drives can suck, just like there are good SDcards.
>And high-quality ones are almost always bulky.
Yeah, but have you ever run a Pi off a good SSD over USB3? Very nice.
And eMMC can be bulky too, I'm so scared to dremel this plexi so that the case doesn't crush this IC, marked by blue: https://imgur.com/VQNV7Bp
Relatedly wouldn't it suck for the RPi5 to introduce another breaking design to the case ecosystem for the minority group that is already served by the Compute Module?
Minority group? Given the target audience I'd say we are talking about the absolute majority.
If it were up to me, Android phones might be doing the same thing, SD as primary storage, with an OS that was optimized for write cycle preservation. It's just so convenient, simple, and obvious.
I don't want the Pi to try to replace desktops, because it's not going to. I've already got a laptop, I don't need any more bandwidth.
I would prefer it if they added a small capacitor that could carry the SD card though it's internal FTL business on sudden power loss, that could ensure the SD always has power until at least a few ms after the last access. But I'm not sure if that's actually the problem. I just use a script to reduce disk writes(Mounting tmpfses, etc).
Reliability is the only thing I care about. And you can't have that with sd-cards.
If that works well (which it should?) that is an absolute nobrainer and game-changer for reability alone.
I've never had a reliability issue with SD cards, I've even seen other people set up stuff on no name cards that run for years, but I keep seeing posts about them on HA boards.
Plus now there are industrial-ish microSD cards for similar or less cost than other kinds of storage.
But that is what I do, because you can't use the Pi reliably if you don't (or if you fiddle with external storage). And that is a serious limitation and something that the majority of Pi users don't. And thus endless suffering. It is not in the same ballpark as "easy to manage configuration".
And many applications require that you write to storage at least some of the time. Such as HA. And in turn you must use external storage.
Plus, I never have the right damned cable. Large HDMI please!
Its not like a a USB-C only Macbook where you might actually be bringing it to various different locations and unexpectedly need to do a presentation.
To the downvoters: disagreeing with someone is not a reason for a downvote. Belligerent comments or false information are. OP was merely expressing an opinion.