Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized computer and the pride of the British people, has a strong rival coming from another coast - the pride of the Taiwanese people, Tinker Board. While it has comparable upgrades next to Raspberry Pi, it will be rolled out with better specs but at a much steeper price as compared to Pi. However, the Tinker Board is not the only rival for the favorite mini computer among hobbyists; turns out, there are at least seven more.
Cheaper Or Faster Alternatives To Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi is the usual go-to single board computer for fun programming and practical projects. But before buying one, it's high-time to consider its rivals, which are faster, better, or even cheaper, ZD Net reported.
- VoCore 2. This is the updated version of Linux and is open-source. This also only costs $15 and is ideal for projects like building custom router or IoT.
- C.H.I.P. it's also very cheap at $9 a piece. It's the evidence of how cheap computing has become. It has 1.0GHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 4GB Storage, and has built-in Bluetooth and WiFi.
- Banana Pi M3. It has 2GB of RAM and has Octa-core processor. It can run on a variety of other OS such as Ubuntu, Android, Raspbian, and more.
- Parallella. It's another credit card-sized computer but is based on Adapteva's Epiphany multi-core chips. It can be used three-ways: a standalone computer, a component in a parallel server cluster, or as an embedded device.
- PixelPro. This features the Freescale i.MX6Q Soc Quad Core ARM Cortex-A9 that runs up to 1GHz. It's highly capable of running multimedia applications of very rich quality because of the 2GB 64-bit DDR3 RAM embedded in it. It's sold at $129.95 a piece but you will get a lot of power for what you're paying for.
- Udoo Quad. This $135 can run both Android and Linux. It also features the same quad-core as Pixel Pro but it's really more and costs more too. Nevertheless, it will be worth every single penny because of the power it has inside.
- Arduino INDUSTRIAL 101. This is a $40 board which can be used either for industrial or commercial. It runs on Atheros AR9331 processor and has 64MB of RAM.
The Power Of The Tinker Board
The Tinker Board has specifications that put it head to head against the reigning Raspberry Pi, The Verge reported. It has a quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A17 CPU and 2GB LPDDR3 RAM. It also has four USB 2.0 ports and it offers support for gigabit LAN and Bluetooth 4.0.
Moreover, the Tinker Board has 3.5mm audio jack, microSD slot, and a Micro USB for power. It can also be swapped with the 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi antennas and it carries an HDMI 2.0 port with support for 4K video.
But despite the 4K support, the Tinker Board cannot support 4K Netflix streaming, which means it's not ideal for those who are looking to build their own media center. Nevertheless, it gives users an improved 3D performance and can easily handle H.264 or H.265 encoded files.
