It's a little different: from when the rPI first came out the price was a big driver of it's popularity. It started with the Model B at $35 (with the Model A at $25 "later this year") and this was so much cheaper than other options at the time. Look over threads from the time [1][2] and you'll see things like: "I teach middle school programming/computer classes. I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these. Right now it's cheap enough that I can tell the parents to buy one for their kids without a problem, and out of pocket it for those few of my students whose parents won't be able to afford it." and "The pricepoint is simply revoultionary. I intend to make a few amateur home automation gadgets with this."
Two different models microwaves cook pretty differently from each other. Especially if they have differing wattage.
But then again, cooking is poor man's process engineering - what you do when you don't particularly care about quality and consistency, or at least don't have access to hardware and methods to ensure them.
Biggest level up was just lightly dusting anything with a starch or flour (lentil flour is awesome) and then a few light sprays of olive oil.
It's the same thing with the raspberry pi, sure you can get some cheap clone off less than ideal places, but you're gonna pay with your time. That's basically it.