Although the pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to the entire electronics industry, it has been a great year for single board computers (SBCs). Not only has the Nvidia Jetson development kit and Raspberry Pi 4 been released, but also the Odyssey J4105 x86 series, which supports both Windows and Linux operating systems. Of course, various components have seen a decline in production capacity due to shortages of raw materials from suppliers, but this has eased somewhat, and experts predict that by the end of this year, production will return to normal levels. Setting aside stock and production capacity, let’s take a look at the best “single board computers” currently available globally.
1.Raspberry Pi 400
Raspberry Pi 400 (Image source: Raspberry Pi)
“Many enthusiasts love this because it reminds us of the gaming console era of the past.” Many enthusiasts have left various comments on forums. According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the Raspberry Pi 400 is a computer built into a keyboard, which not only can perform daily calculations, work, and study, but also serves as the core processing CPU for various applications. This model is equipped with a Broadcom BCM2711 Cortex-A72 quad-core 64-bit SoC (1.8 GHz), 4Gb LPDDR4, dual-band IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0/BLE, dual USB 3.0 ports, 2x micro-hdmi, and a standard 40-pin GPIO. The new Raspberry Pi 400 series is directly integrated into a keyboard, making it very convenient to connect to a monitor via the keyboard.
Raspberry Pi 400 Render (Image source: raspberrypi.org)
2.Embedded Now Piconium Modular SBC
Embedded Now Piconium Modular SBC (Image source: Embedded Now)
Embedded Now has produced a top-tier industrial single board computer — Piconium, primarily used in factories, industrial sites, and other harsh environments. Its modular design features a COM Express (COMX) computing module mainboard, compatible with most mainstream Intel and AMD CPUs on the market, including Atom, Celeron, Pentium, and Xeon quad-core series; supporting up to 8Gb DRAM and 16Gb of built-in flash memory, with up to 7 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports. Piconium also includes HDMI, LVDS, SATA, Ethernet, I2C, and serial ports, and its COMX port can be configured in expansion mode to add additional functionalities.
3.Odyssey x86 Mini-PC
Odyssey x86 Mini-PC (Image source: Seeed Studio)
The Odyssey x86 Mini-PC from Seeed Studio is designed for edge computing applications and has been rated by the media as “the most expandable Win10 mini-computer”. This single board computer features 8Gb of memory, a quad-core Intel Celeron J4105 processor, and an ATSAMD21, ARM Cortex-M0+ MCU; it also includes an Intel UHD 600 integrated GPU, up to 64Gb of eMMC flash storage, 8Gb of LPDDR RAM, two M.2 expansion slots, full-duplex Ethernet port, dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz), and even integrates a 40-pin GPIO on the mainboard. Additionally, it has a 28-pin port for medical devices’ SaMD, along with various USB 2.0, USB 3.0 Type-A/C, HDMI, DP, TPM ports.
4.Nvidia Jetson TX2
Nvidia Jetson TX2 (Image source: Nvidia)
The Nvidia Jetson TX2 is a real-time machine learning system SoM (system on module) designed specifically for edge computing. This board features a dual-core Nvidia Denver 2 64-bit CPU and a quad-core ARM Cortex-A57 cluster, 8GB 128-bit LPDDR4 RAM, and a proprietary integrated 256-core Pascal GPU, providing powerful computing capabilities; it also offers 32Gb of eMMC flash storage, dual ISP (integrated signal processor), and a 400-pin Samtec board-to-board connector. Furthermore, it includes an onboard HDMI 2.0 port, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, and MIPI CSI 2.0 camera ports; wireless support includes 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 (867Mbps) Wi-Fi, and common industrial I/O (UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, and duplex CAN bus).
5.Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (Image source: Raspberry Pi)
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B was actually released back in 2019, but to this day it can still outperform other competitors, and hundreds of projects have been developed using it. This single board is equipped with a BCM2711 SoC, 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A72 CPU, and 8Gb LPDDR4 memory; it features dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0/BLE, Ethernet, and PoE HAT ports. Regarding external ports, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is fully equipped with 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 micro-HDMI, 1 MIPI Camera, and MIPI display ports, as well as a 4-pole stereo and composite video output port; of course, the iconic 40-pin GPIO of the Raspberry Pi is retained here.
6.Asus Tinker Board 2S
Asus Tinker Board 2S (Image source: Asus)
The Asus Tinker Board 2S, produced by Asus, is designed for AIoT and industrial applications. Compared to the previous generation Asus Tinker Board 2, the 2S version features 16Gb of eMMC flash storage and has added a micro-SD card expansion slot. Both versions use a Rockchip rk3399 64-bit SoC, dual-core ARM Cortex-A72 (@2GHz) and quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 (@1.5 GHz) CPU, an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU, and 4Gb of dual-channel LPDDR4 memory. In addition, the external interfaces of the development board are not reduced at all, including HDMI 2.0 (4K compatible), USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port, and 3X USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. Furthermore, the 22-pin MIPI DSI, MIPI CSI-2, and 40-pin GPIO are all integrated on the board; in terms of networking, there is an Ethernet port, 802.11 AC Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0, and considering heat dissipation, the manufacturer has also equipped a DC fan.
7.iWave Systems iW-Rainbow-G27S
iWave Systems iW-Rainbow-G27S (Image source: iWave Systems)
The iW-Rainbow-G27S Pico-ITX SBC from the veteran design company iWave Systems uses NXP’s i.MX8 Max/Quad SoC, primarily for medical and industrial embedded applications. Its Max version is equipped with 2X Cortex-A72, 4X Cortex-A53, and 2X Cortex-M4F; the Plus version is equipped with Cortex-A72, 4X Cortex-A53, and 2X Cortex-M4F modules, and both versions are well-received for their 4Gb LPDDR4 memory (expandable to 8Gb) and 16Gb eMMC flash (upgradable to 256Gb). In terms of network interfaces: a pair of GbE ports, including 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 are all available; at the same time, external connection ports include: 2X USB 3.0 ports, micro USB 2.0 OTG port, HDMI 2.0A port, micro-HDMI 2.0A port, 40-pin EDP connector, MIPI-DSI/CSI, LVDS, and SAI expansion connection ports. In addition, the development kit also includes RS-232, CAN bus, M.2 ports, 3×4 driver connectors, battery connectors, and micro-SD card slots, JTAG, and serial communication debugging boards, making it very rich and powerful in functionality.
8.BeagleBone Green Wireless
BeagleBone Green Wireless (Image source: BeagleBone)
The BeagleBone Green Wireless SBC, produced by Seeed Studio, is impressive; based on the previous generation BeagleBone Black, the wireless version is very innovative. It features a built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth interface and two Grove connectors for connecting various additional sensors. The board is also equipped with an AM335x Arm Cortex-A8 processor, 512Mb DDR3 memory, 4Gb eMMC Flash storage, 3D graphics acceleration GPU, Neon architecture ARM floating-point computation accelerator, and a pair of PRU 32-bit microcontrollers. Seeed has also added a USB client, 4-port USB host, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0/BLE, and 46-pin signal input/output ports to this generation of single board computers.
9.F&S armStone MX8M
F&S armStone MX8M (Image source: F&S Elektronik System GmbH)
F&S has designed the armStone MX8M development board based on NXP’s i.MX8M SoC, suitable for applications such as smart building graphics rendering, industrial and medical HMI applications, and POS/POI terminals. This board is equipped with a dual-core or quad-core Cortex-A53, Cortex-M4, and Vivante GC7000Lite GPU, 8Gb LPDDR4 memory, 32Gb eMMC Flash, and 1Gb SLC NAND flash; in terms of network connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, and 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports. The interfaces of the single board include: 2X USB 3.0 host ports, 2X USB 2.0 host ports, micro-USB 3.0 OTG port, CAN, RS232, 2X TTL UART, 4X I2C, 2X SPI, and 32X DIO; other features include a Mini PCIE, SD card slot, button battery holder, and dual 24-bit LVDS, DVI, MIPI-CSI, and audio lines.
10.Novasom Industries M11
Novasom Industries M11 (Image source: Novasom Industries)
Novasom Industries’ Novasom M11 is a single board SBC developed based on the Intel Apollo Lake x5 6th Atom CPU, designed for full HD movies or UHD (4k) multi-display output. This board is equipped with x5-E3930 (dual-core) or Atom x5-E3940 (quad-core) processors, 8Gb RAM, UPS system (battery and controller), frost Ethernet interface with PoE PD capability, full HD audio decoding, and optical SPDIF mini PCIE interface. The system supports either Windows or Linux native systems, making it very convenient and easy to use.
—END—
Source: Bread Community
Essence, discard the dross, strengthen the foundation, promote innovation
Disclaimer: This article is an original piece edited from network-sourced materials, and the copyright belongs to the original author. Please indicate the source when reproducing. If any works are involved, please contact us.
If you need soft articles or image advertising business cooperation, please contact us.
Mid-Autumn Festival gift booking phone: 15221212873, nationwide free shipping, LOGO customization, and opening invoices.