Secondhand PC hardware is incomparable with brand new Raspberry Pi.
In this sentence, is it correct to say brand new Raspberry Pi without making it countable? That is, a brand new Raspberry Pi or brand new Raspberry Pis
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No. It is not uncountable and therefore should be subjected to the normal rules of plurality (despite second-hand PC hardware being uncountable).
You can say:
Secondhand PC hardware is incomparable with a brand new Raspberry Pi.
Or:
Secondhand PC hardware is incomparable with brand new Raspberry Pis.
Admittedly, either is a little awkward, so you may consider rewording:
Secondhand PC hardware is incomparable with the brand new Raspberry Pi.
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Thanks for answering. But I'm not sure about the reworded sentence though, by using the definite article the, aren't we refering to a specific Raspberry Pi model? Just like the brand new iPhone, which refers to the latest iPhone model in particular rather than all the iPhone models in general. – skygate Apr 9 '18 at 10:20
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@skygate I think the "the" used here is a case of a singular noun representing a whole class, such as "The whale is a kind of mammal." We're not talking about a specific raspberry pi, but all brand new rasberry pis. – Neil Apr 9 '18 at 10:27
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1I would use the "a brand new Raspberry Pi" version. In context there is no differentiation or indication of a specific unit. Also I don't know if "Raspberry Pis" is actually used. Non-technical folk might confuse it with raspberry pies... – user3169 Apr 9 '18 at 22:32
