What do people think of the 1ghz Pandas?


From what I've been reading about this on a couple of other boards, the unlikeliness of a price drop on the Pandora 1.5 (or whatever it will be known as) will almost certainly be the death of OPT - people are frankly amazed at the enormous price which combined with the last price hike (or kick in the teeth as people have come to know it as) are skeptical about OPTs future.


For myself, there's no way I'd drop $600+ on this rather disappointingly small increment in hardware capability - the Pandora does what I want it to, and I'll not be upgrading until Pandora 2 comes out (and there's a ton of current features that will need to be retained for me to even consider that), if there ever is a Pandora 2. I'm afraid this is where OPT and me part company, reluctantly though it is.


D.
 
I don't get why the price needs to be so high once the 1Ghz go full production anyway. These are supposed to be a drop in replacement and the parts can't be that much more expensive. Just looks like a way to get a lot more money for the same amount of work.
 
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I don't get why the price needs to be so high once the 1Ghz go full production anyway. These are supposed to be a drop in replacement and the parts can't be that much more expensive. Just looks like a way to get a lot more money for the same amount of work.

Yes, us trying to achieve a profit margin where we can pay ourselves wages is an extraordinary development. It's just not on.
 
Yes, us trying to achieve a profit margin where we can pay ourselves wages is an extraordinary development. It's just not on.
Oh please don't try crying the poor tale like that. I have no problem with you guys making money from this (I really hope you do) but there's a certain point where your just taking the piss.
 
Just thinking out loud, but for the next Two Months™, wouldn't this make some sense:


$600, new DaVinci DM3730


$400, DM3530 ReBirth (at 800 remaining)


Upgrade Program:


Return 1st Batch or ReBirth Edition Pandora, get a Pandora2X for $400 (broken displays +$50).


Refurbs can be sold for $300-$330


And of course this would be WHEN there are 3730s laying around. I don't see a problem offering the PREORDER of the 1st 150 to be $50 higher, for the place in line to have a 3730 in August.


I am saying count me in for a 3730, but I think in order for us to start selling these things, we need to lower the price of the 3530 NOW, and offer the 3730 at $649 until there are no more 3530s left, or enough to keep us on the move forward.
 
^


In a perfect world I would agree, but knowing what CC has done to the project, we now have this reality. Those who wait the longest will get a 1GHz unit when its all said and done for $330 or $350, unless I'm mistaken.
 
THey just have to win the lawsuit against CC and with the money from them, OP Team can make a supadupa Pandora 2 at the customers price of an average Nintendo\Sony Handheld. :)
 
I think my Pandora has been outdated before I've even got it <_<
Yeah kind of but you can upgrade your current preorder to the 1GHz model and pay the difference, though it's not cheap.
I don't have enough money to even consider paying out for something like that. Unfotunatly this just comes across as being another kick in the teeth for the people who helped this console get as far as it has done, without getting bugger all back so far.

At this stage I figure my likely outcomes are:

  • I get - one day, someday - an amazing machine that's even better than what I bought originally with a mature software collection and a bunch of niggles sorted before they got around to making mine. Hopefully by then though, it's not gonna feel like I just got airlifted onto the Titanic on the night of April 14.
  • OpenPandora finally goes bust and I get nothing but an apology. Or maybe a diatribe from Craig about how I didn't support the project enough and made it fail. I suppose at least then hundreds of people who were still sucking on their mama's teat when I paid for my machine in full wouldn't be lording their new more-powerful Pandora over me while I wait patiently for my supporter icon.
  • I ask for a refund, and assuming I actually get it I kiss goodbye to more than $100 lost to exchange rates, years of my life, and just a lil more of my faith in trying to support the little guy. That would be unfortunate.


I'm really hoping for the first outcome, and I seriously hope for the best in all that OpenPandora do because I'm sure they're all genuinely nice guys who just wanna make a bit of a difference in the world, but time and time and time again this whole enterprise is shown clearly to be built on pillars of sand.


Here's hoping you can keep the tide at bay a while longer.
 
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Those who wait the longest will get a 1GHz unit when its all said and done for $330 or $350, unless I'm mistaken.
As far as I'm aware, the people who have been waiting the longest will be getting the 600Mhz chip, whilst the people with the most money will be getting the 1Ghz test chips. By the time the 1Ghz chips are becoming the norm, all the 800 or so 600Mhz chips will be used up anyway satisfying the pre-orders.
 
There's nothing wrong with the update, but the price gap is stiff. 400-500$ is OK for a new device, but above that price I begin to seriously ask myself questions. We all know there is a "sweet spot" for pricing - and that the new pricing has to bring new features, not just a little more speed to the system.


I, for once, would be very interested to see: 1Ghz processor with a better screen (OLED or better LCD in terms of contrast) and HDMI output or something like that. Just the 1Ghz alone won't cut it.
 
There's nothing wrong with the update, but the price gap is stiff. 400-500$ is OK for a new device, but above that price I begin to seriously ask myself questions. We all know there is a "sweet spot" for pricing - and that the new pricing has to bring new features, not just a little more speed to the system.


I, for once, would be very interested to see: 1Ghz processor with a better screen (OLED or better LCD in terms of contrast) and HDMI output or something like that. Just the 1Ghz alone won't cut it.
I think it was said that a pcb board revision would be needed for hdmi to be implemented though I might be wrong.Not sure about a screen upgrade though the current one is high resolution.Hdmi+ oled sreen would be sweet.We may have to wait for the pandora 2 for this though.
 
For myself, there's no way I'd drop $600+ on this rather disappointingly small increment in hardware capability - the Pandora does what I want it to, and I'll not be upgrading until Pandora 2 comes out (and there's a ton of current features that will need to be retained for me to even consider that), if there ever is a Pandora 2. I'm afraid this is where OPT and me part company, reluctantly though it is.

I'm still waiting on my unit, and have only recently realized I've been reading the wrong number as my place in queue. I've got the disposable income right now, so I figure I can use it to support a project I like. Plus, even if it's just a little bit, I'm future proofing my Pandora.


Though yeah, this is getting to be more and more expensive investment.
 
yeah I like the idea of having an improved and beefier pandora.that new silver case sounds sweet too.im looking forward to this baby.
 
In my opinion it is a good update, however adding 500$ over my futur pandora is way out of my budget and I think don't worth it, and on the contrary a 100$+ increase when the 1GHz pandora will replace the old ones seems totally abusive since they cost roughly the same to produce in "mass"... guess I will pass on theses...


argument advanced by ED telling us its almost the same as the 600MHz is totally ridiculous, the update WILL matter for N64 and other really intensive task. Emulation wise the only reason to get a pandora over a much cheaper device (beside the keyboard...) are those intensive emulator (N64, PSX) that will gain much with the upgrade.
 
Hey all! :)


So.... does anyone have a picture to upload of what the "new stronger case, silver version" look like....?


Cheers, S.H.
 
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I do think it's unfortunate that these were announced before all preorders were fulfilled.

I can see both sides of that argument.


On balance it seems in keeping with the open aspect of Open Pandora. I can imagine that there would be a few people with pre orders who would be pretty disappointed at losing the opportunity of upgrading to the DM3730 version.


Sales of the DM3730 units with their higher profit margins should also hopefully allow more pre orders of the standard Pandora to be fulfilled.
 
Sales of the DM3730 units with their higher profit margins should also hopefully allow more pre orders of the standard Pandora to be fulfilled.

Yes, certainly. The more money comes in, the faster we can afford the production of the classic preorder units.
 
Yes, certainly. The more money comes in, the faster we can afford the production of the classic preorder units.
Why?


I thought the investment money that you brought in when swapping over to German production has already covered the cost of that??


Running the production of two different boards at the same time will only slow down the pre-orders further than what they already have been.
 
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