this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2026
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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.
Their excuse definitely smells like bullshit. It just seems they want to do the Apple thing of making sure they get the money for the upgrade, plus a premium. Except even Apple has a technical reason they don't allow upgrades, which Raspberry Pi doesn't.
Raspberry pi is public. They have a clear profit motive behind the upsell. Clear as day.
Nah it’s not technical reasons, it’s just greed and form over function, the new MacBook Neo proves that if Apple wanted to they can make a user repairable and even upgradable laptop, they don’t because the EU hasn’t forced them yet
How does the new MacBook prove that? The way their processors are made it’s impossible to upgrade RAM after the fact.
That was a typo I meant the new MacBook Neo laptop
Yeah I assumed that’s what you meant. That machine still uses an SoC with embedded ram. It’s not possible to upgrade it.
It’s more repairable than previous designs, which is great, but that’s different than being upgradable.
Yeah and it’s a measly 8 gb of ram, but they are stuck with that because of reusing the A18 SoC from the iPhones which sucks but I’m glad it forced other budget thin and light laptop manufacturers in that segment to wake up and compete
From a consumer freedom standpoint this is shitty. And it does allow them to sell an enthusiast model at a premium without competing with an after market modder.
But two things can be true. I don't think it's entirely unreasonable for the company to want to protect the integrity of the brand if unreliable after market sellers start releasing bad product indistinguishable from your own with your logo slapped on it.
Even if you have authorized resellers entrusted with doing the upgrades and audited for quality, if you leave the door open, there will be unauthorized mods on the market too. It does hurt not only Raspberry Pi, but the entire resell market if you can't trust the product to have their expected standard of quality. It still sucks, but I at least get the justification.
A few years back, I worked in an assembly plant for a car company. One time when I was doing a quality containment, I found out that something like 30-50 cars were found to have a very slightly misaligned roof piece when it was welded, and it causes a slight, but visible warp in the roof. It was otherwise fine. Still water proof, still structurally sound, just a cosmetic defect. They were all quarantined to be stripped of any easily removable components and then the remaining parts and body would be scrapped.
I asked why? Even if they didn't want to put them out to dealers with a visible defect, they were still safe and functional. They could still offer them to employees for sale at a discount and make far more back for them than its value as scrap. The answer was that it could hurt the value of the brand as a whole if low quality cars were put on the market, even if only for resale. It was worth the loss of these 30+ cars to maintain a consumer's high expectation of quality.
I still think it may have been better to allow employees an opportunity to get a new vehicle at a great price with only a cosmetic defect. But I do get the competing concern there. You do want things you buy from a big company to have reliable quality.
I get the sentiment, but this is a computer's active component. If they can detect that the RAM is non-stock, they can just have the UEFI say that in POST. Problem solved with about the same amount of code as their current "solution".
The fact that there are multiple solutions to the problem they say they're trying to solve, but they chose one that is both anti-consumer and protective of their upcharged models makes it obvious what their real intentions are. Follow the money and it will lead you to the truth nearly always. In your example, the car company was willing to lose money.
Fair.
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.
Yeah load of bullshit