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Why people choose to buy Arduino when they can get a cheaper and better dev board?

For example, Arduino Uno with ATmega328 has only 16Mhz clock speed, 32KB Flash and 16 IOs costing 20£.

Where as for 10£ you can get STM32F4 DISCOVERY with 32bit ARM Cortex-M4 having 168Mhz clock, 1MB Flash and 100 IOs?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Because of the software tools and user community associated with Arduino. But this isn't an EE question, so it will be closed. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dave Tweed
    Feb 22, 2013 at 22:28
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DaveTweed: It's not a shopping question. It is a EE question. He want's to know whether there's an issue or something he's missing that he should know about the difference between the two systems. It shouldn't be closed since others might benefit. \$\endgroup\$
    – Gustavo Litovsky
    Feb 22, 2013 at 22:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ So questions on "Why" isn't a EE question? Isn't development of standards and understanding of EE trends also part of EE? \$\endgroup\$
    – Passerby
    Feb 22, 2013 at 22:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @GustavoLitovsky: I never said it was a shopping question. But it's definitely "not constructive" under the EE guidelines. It could also be construed as spam. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dave Tweed
    Feb 22, 2013 at 22:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ This is the definition of not constructive. \$\endgroup\$
    – Kortuk
    Feb 22, 2013 at 23:14

2 Answers 2

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To put it in a simple comparison, The Arduino and the culture around it is like Legos, made to fit together easily and simple. Pre-made modular system with little work needed on the user's end. A Lego tower is easy to build.

The Discovery board on the other hand, is like real construction equipment. A real building tower is not so easy to build.

Most people are likely to go with the simple option, even if it cost more. Same reason people buy premade computers, when making your own is cheaper and better.

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I think the answer boils down to the customer.

If you're a hobbyist trying to get a project together, then Arduino includes many example projects and a lot of tutorials on how to get things running. Programming it is a breeze because of the IDE. The integration job is amazing and it makes it easy for entry level.

The STM32F4 is an excellent board that in some ways might appeal to hobbyists because of the price, but in reality ST is trying to get at TI (which I believe popularized the inexpensive Launchpad or EZ430 board first). When ST is trying to find new customers, it's very cheap and easy to introduce them to the microcontrollers with this board. The customers are likely somewhat sophisticated at the use of microcontrollers and know that at some point they'll move to a dev board or their own design. When customers are looking for a microcontroller, ease of use is not first on their mind (though it sometimes should be). They're usually willing to deal with different toolchains, new configurations, etc because in the end it's a higher performance part with more capabilities and at a low price in quantities. The ease of use and community don't figure that much into the equation.

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