As many have pointed out, price wise it’s not competitive. But more than that, the main feature of the Pi is its software support. I buy a Pi not because it’s got the top specs but because I know I can load a rock solid OS with security support and I won’t have to think about it. This is a problem for every Pi competitor.
You can get a Ryzen minipc for under $200 now.
Where at? Not finding any that low on Amazon
Some one on the comment section said that
“There’s no innovation here; it uses a Rockchip processor, which is from a Chinese company. Assembling a board with Chinese components isn’t a big deal. I know people who could make an even better board. Innovation would have been if the processor was designed by an Indian company and made entirely in India. But that’s not the case.”
Lol, changing the country of origin doesn’t constitute innovation from a consumer standpoint…
Now if this was using 5nm or chiplit or any of the other buzzwords of the day it could be marketed as innovative in the modern sense of the word.
Realistically there is no innovation left for ARM platforms. They all use the same core schematics. They only control data flow and peripheral IP as a manufacturer, unless they feel like building their own core from the spec (nobody really does that anymore as ARM has been desperately trying to standardize everything). The most “innovation” I’ve seen has come from stubbornness around keeping legacy bus architecture around instead of adopting AXI (even when all the IP they are trying to use already uses AXI and they keep having to make translation hardware).
There’s other RK3588 boards in the $60-$70 range (notably Orange Pi 5). What makes this one different?
I don’t know if it’s still the case but kernel support and related was nearly always an issue when I tested Raspi alternatives for building homebrew robots. OS updates were a gamble and support and documentation was not good to say the least. Raspi also has every HAT you can imagine to extend their capabilities too.
Best way for pi alternatives I’ve found is to see which one is the most popular for the project / community I’m working with.
It isn’t always the latest and greatest but at least there will be plenty of support.
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It’s not a rival. It is in a different sector. And it will rise or fall with the availability of software and support.
cost less than 200U$D
More than double the price. Not sure what it’s competing with, but not a pi
depends on specs
