Are any SBCs ready to replace desktop computers?

johnbeetem — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:01:33 GMT

Current Revision posted to Polls by johnbeetem on 10/11/2021 3:01:33 PM

I would love to replace my power-hungry desktop PC with an inexpensive SBC with no audible fan. However, so far the SBCs I've tried lately (BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBoard) don't have enough processing power to be a viable desktop PC.

So, are any of the higher-performance SBCs that have been released lately up to the task? I'm looking for a GNU/Linux computer that can do a decent job surfing the Internet (I don't care about video or audio performance) and a decent job compiling C programs. I would say it needs at least 1 GB RAM and SATA for a disk drive. 100 Mb/s Ethernet is adequate, but I'd prefer not going through a USB hub. Reasonable number of USB ports and HDMI output. Wi-Fi is not needed or desired.

Here are some of the SBCs I've been watching and might consider. Feel free to add others! Most of these are OSHW, which is of course preferred.

Banana Pi: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

CubieTruck: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

Intel Next Unit of Computing (NUC): Intel Atom or other, up to 8 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

MinnowBoard MAX: Intel Atom, 1 or 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

Olimex LIME2: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

PCduino3Nano: Allwinner A20 Dual ARM Cortex-A7, 1 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

RIoTboard: Freescale i.MX6 ARM Cortex-A9, 1GB DDR3, no SATA, GBE.

Wandboard Quad: Freescale i.MX6 Quad ARM Cortex-A9, 2 GB DDR3, SATA, GBE.

[Please visit the site to access the poll]

Tags: sbc, oshw