I’ve noticed that all of my Pi’s in the house are 3B’s. I’m about to pick up another one for running CNC.js on the MPCNC. Is the 3B+ worth the extra money?
I currently have the following Pi’s running:
CNC.js for the laser engraver
Octoprint for the 3d printer
Home assistant
Unifi key software
I even have an old 2B on an aquarium controller I wrote.
I also have a pair of Pi Zero’s running some tasks.
I can’t say I’ve ever had a reason to get anything faster than the 3B for most of the applications I run on it.
Faster Internet, a bit faster cpu. That is about it. Most programs are meant to run on the pi are pretty low consumption, so it’s usually ok. I usually buy the latest one. The 3B is a good choice because it has wifi though. I have a bunch of the older ones and the wifi dongles are not as much fun.
I can’t speak to any practical advantage over the 3’s as far as cncjs goes… But I have been playing with one running linuxcnc. Ultimately I plan to use it for v1pi or just a shop computer. I will say it needs some active cooling though.
The older models don’t really come down in price, so you essentially get more functionality for the same price. One exception is the 3A+ which is smaller, fewer USB ports, no RJ45 LAN port. If you are running wifi and the MPCNC is your one and only USB device, it works great.
