Asus Tinker Board is a DIY mini PC that takes aim at Raspberry Pi

For makers, educators and IoT designers, this little board promises a lot more performance than its competitor.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice

Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.

Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials

More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.

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Joshua Goldman

Jan. 24, 2017 11:06 a.m. PT

2 min read

Raspberry Pi has made a name for itself among makers, developers and students for its tiny $35 Raspberry Pi 3 computer. Asus thinks it can do better, though.

The Taiwanese tech company known for its PCs and components is now selling the Tinker Board, an open-source system ready to run anything you want to build around it -- from home automation to a drone to a video game emulator to a media box.

Like the Raspberry Pi 3, the Tinker Board is basically an entire PC -- motherboard, CPU, GPU, system memory and more -- all in one package. Based around a Rockchip RK3388 SoC quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A17 CPU, Asus is claiming the board will have twice the performance of the Pi 3, which is now nearly a year old.

Other specs include:

2GB dual-channel LPDDR3 memory
Gigabit LAN and Bluetooth 4.0 + EDR connectivity
802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
Four USB 2.0 ports
40-pin internal header with 28 GPIO pins
Contact points for PWM and S/PDIF signals
3.5mm audio jack connection
CSI port for camera connection
DSI port supporting HD resolution
HDMI 2.0 port with 4K-resolution support
MicroSD port supporting UHS-I card speed
Supports Debian OS with Kodi
5V/2A Micro-USB power supply (not included)

It is just the board and what's on it, however, so you'll have to supply your own microSD card for storage, a Micro-USB power supply, keyboard, mouse and display.

French site MiniMachines first learned of the board at CES 2017, but it is now available in the UK for £55, which converts to approximately $70 or AU$90. That's about twice the cost of a Raspberry Pi 3, which for some will defeat the entire low-cost purpose of the platform.