Developers, makers and hobbyists are searching for a single board mini PC similar to the Raspberry Pi might be interested in the new NanoPi M4 mini PC which has been unveiled this week with prices starting from $65. Equipped with a more powerful processor than the Raspberry Pi the NanoPi M4 is powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor equipped with two ARM Cortex-A72 CPU cores supported by four Cortex-A53 cores and Mali-T864 graphics together with up to 4GB of RAM.
The CPU used in the mini PC is basically the same chip used in Chromebooks such as the the Samsung Chromebook Plus (2017) and Acer Chromebook Tab 10 (2018), explains Brad Linder from the Liliputing website. Depending on your budget and required performance two mini PC systems are available offering 2GB or 4GB of RAM priced at $65 and $95 respectively. The NanoPi M4 mini PC supports a number of different operating systems including Android 7.1.2, Lubuntu 16.04 32-bit, or FriendlyCore 18.04 or FriendlyDesktop 18.04 64-bit operating systems based on Ubuntu.
Both mini PC systems features DDR3-1866 memory and has a microSD card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, HDMI, and 3.5mm audio ports, together with 4 x USB 3.0 Type-A ports and a USB 2.0 Type-C port. 40-pin GPIO header, a second 24-pin GPIO header, a 4-lane MIPI-DSI output for an optional camera module, and a socket for connecting an optional eMMC module. FriendlyELEC also offers separate accessories taking the form of a 8GB eMMC module, 2MP or 13.2MP cameras, a heat sink, or various cables and adapters.
Source: CNX-Software : Liliputing