News Cool Pi 4: The RK3588S Eight-Core Raspberry Pi Alternative

[Admin]

The Cool Pi 4 features the RK3588S chipset in a form factor extremely close to that of the Raspberry Pi 4.

Cool Pi 4: The RK3588S Eight-Core Raspberry Pi Alternative : Read more

 

[Hooda Thunkett]

I keep seeing articles on here about "RaspberryPi alternatives" that all cost significant multiples of the version they are trying to be an alternative to. I find it difficult to call them "alternatives" for much the same reason I can't call a Ford F150 an alternative to an Ioniq5. They both may be able to get you from place to place, but if you need the F150, the Ioniq5 is unlikely to be a replacement, and vice versa.
If you need the computing power this board affords, the Pi isn't really an alternative. If you don't, then the cost makes this uncompetitive (assuming you can get the Pi).

 

[lmcnabney]

Something has to sit between the Pi and the NUC.

 

[Peter Patel-Schneider]

It would be nice if there was something like a Pi but only somewhat more expensive, instead of several times as expensive.

 

[coromonadalix]

aliexpres is not the best place to buy it, they have begun to over inflate some hardware ...

 

[user7007]

For the price on ali express (160-205 USD,) you can buy mini pc's with intel chips off amazon. some mini pc's on amazon are as low as $100 - $120. And they come with a case and power supply.

Aa another reference, a Galaxy A03s or Moto G phone can be had for the same price, also has cameras, screen, cellular, octa-core, etc.

Just seems like pretty poor value.

 

[eye4bear]

Have any of you priced a Raspberry Pi on Amazon (if you can find any)? They are going for $159+ for the 4 GB model. Wish I had bought 2 instead of 1 a few years ago

 

[bit_user]

$142 for the 4GB version, with free shipping and delivery at the end of the year.

Wow, that's about 1.5x as expensive as the 8 GB Orange Pi 5, shipped.

With 8 cores, I think you'll probably want at least 8 GB. The 8 GB Pi 4 seems quite popular, and it only has 4 cores.

 

[bit_user]

It would be nice if there was something like a Pi but only somewhat more expensive, instead of several times as expensive.

There are options, if you're willing to look. The ODROID N2+ 4 GB is only $83, but you have to add a little for shipping from South Korea. I priced out the alternatives (Amazon, AmeriDroid) and decided to order mine direct from HardKernel (the manufacturer). Oh, and it's worth the extra $ to buy an eMMC module, as they're faster than a SD card.

The ODROID N2+ works pretty much out-of-the-box, but you still have to use a nonstandard image to get things like 3D and video acceleration. So, it's not quite as user-friendly as the Pi, nor is the user community as big. That said, when I recently installed the latest 64-bit build on my Pi 3, it didn't have native 3D acceleration either (but it was very straight-forward to enable).