The NanoPi Neo4 is the cheapest six-core, single-board computer to be released, ad at $45 the price isn't too bad either. The only downside to this board is that there's only 1GB of RAM, which may introduce a bottleneck for some applications.
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The NanoPC-T3 Plus is the bigger brother of the NanoPi 2 Fire, and features an octa-core processor which has enough power for commercial and industrial applications.
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A coin-sized Linux computer that is totally open-source, and costs $20.
This is a small, low-cost, totally open-source (both the hardware and software) computer that's ideal for projects such as IoT or building your own custom router.
I especially like the VoCore2 Ultimate package, which for $44 represents excellent value.
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ODROID-XU4 is a new generation of computing device with more powerful, more energy-efficient hardware and a smaller form factor, and costing only $59.
Offering open source support, the board can run various flavors of Linux, including the latest Ubuntu 16.04 and Android 4.4 KitKat, 5.0 Lollipop and 7.1 Nougat.
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The Parallella computer is a high performance, credit card sized computer based on the Epiphany multi-core chips from Adapteva.
Starting at $99, the Parallella can be used as a standalone computer, an embedded device, or as a component in a scaled out parallel server cluster.
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Looking for a board with plenty of USB ports? This is the board for you!
In addition to a six-core processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, support for 4K displays and hardware-accelerated 4K video playback, the NanoPi M4 also features four USB 3.0 ports, along with a USB Type-C port. It also includes an interface that supports two 13-megapixel cameras.
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OK, OK, I know that technically the Zero W is a member of the Raspberry Pi family, but this one is too awesome to not list! This has become my go-to board to use for projects. I literally have a handful ready to go at any one time.
Why?
Well, it's not just that it comes in at $10 -- which means I don't have a huge amount of cash tied up in a project -- but also because of the very impressive feature set it offers:
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The MinnowBoard Turbot Dual Ethernet Quad-Core is a powerful quad-core board featuring 2GB of RAM and 8MB of SPI flash storage. It also features twin Ethernet ports for flexible wired connectivity.
Another awesome feature that this board offers is an M.2 B slot for WAN cards, as well as a SIM slot. This gives the board amazing flexibility... but at a cost.
At $199 this is not a cheap board, but it does offer a number of high-end features.
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As the image shows, the NanoPi NEO Plus2 is a tiny board, less than half the size of the Raspberry Pi, but it packs a performance and storage punch and doesn't skimp on the features.
This board comes in two configurations: 512MB of RAM and 8GB eMMC storage for $32, and 1GB of RAM and 8GB eMMC storage for $44.
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The UDOO x86 ULTRA is something special -- it is a powerful x86 maker board and an Arduino 101-compatible platform, combined onto the same board. This combination results in a board that's ten times more powerful than a Raspberry Pi 3.
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A cheap, $12 quad-core powered board that's ideally suited for hobbyists.
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The HiKey 970 is essentially a PC running Android.
Making use of with LPDDR4X 1866MHz memory, and featuring 64GB of UFS 2.1 storage, Bluetooth, WIFI, and GPS , this is a board specifically aimed at developers, especially those looking for maximize accelerated AI capabilities that are not present of most other development platforms.
At a whopping $299 it's not cheap, but it certainly has the horsepower to handle whatever task you want to throw at it.
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