Buying a new Arduino - Duemilanove or Uno?

[LXE]

When I first got interested in Arduino boards. I didn't know what the difference between the Diecimilla and the Duemilanove was. Now I researched and studied the Arduino, bought a board to do a competition with (sadly not enough I/O) and now the new Arduino Uno has come out.

The question is -
"Arduino Uno has been released and it looks oh so awesome, Should I buy it? Or save money by Buying the old Arduino Duemilanove instead?"

• If I buy the Arduino Uno, the features are awesome and what I get out of it is pretty cool but it's expensive.
• If I buy the Arduino Duemilanove, it's just as good as the Uno and quite cheap but it's still based on the FTDI chip and programming is a bit slower.
  

So is the Arduino Uno worth buying just because it doesn't use the FTDI chip and programming is a lot faster with the Atmega 8U2?

[madsci1016]

IT doesn't really matter, it's the same MCU and 'faster' is relative, it's still going to go the speed of serial.

Save your money.

[rbtying]

If you're looking to get more GPIO pins, neither board will help you - they all use the same number of pins (Diecimila -> Duemilanove -> Uno).  If you want to do something fancy with the 8U2 chip, go ahead and get the Uno, otherwise, you can make your life easier for when you want to make your project permanent and use the Duemilanove, since FTDI chips are easy to get and cheap.

[LXE]

If you're looking to get more GPIO pins, neither board will help you - they all use the same number of pins

The reason my board has so little I/O is because they are all connected to onboard components. So it's not much of a development platform.

[Soeren]

Hi,

If you're just looking for more I/O, an add-on module with eg. IIC comms and lots of I/O would be a better way to spend your money/time.

[LXE]

Hi,

If you're just looking for more I/O, an add-on module with eg. IIC comms and lots of I/O would be a better way to spend your money/time.

I'm not looking for I/O (Why is everyone assuming that?). I'm looking for a "development platform" to be able to actually prototype with. The Arduino compatible board I have right now is not a "development platform", it is rather just a meer educational tool, so that is why it has very little I/O.

[knossos]

I'm not looking for I/O (Why is everyone assuming that?).

I think mostly because of this:

Now I researched and studied the Arduino, bought a board to do a competition with (sadly not enough I/O) and now the new Arduino Uno has come out.

As for a "development platform", that's a fairly vague term.  If I understand correctly, you are interested in something that is more than just a basic hobby kit with lots of built in components like you say here:

The reason my board has so little I0/O is because they are all connected to onboard components.

Me personally, between using the Uno or the Duemilanove, I would probably go with the Duemilanove for lower costs since I don't have a direct need for the Uno as rbtying stated earlier.