At first glance, the LeMaker HiKey 960 looks a lot like a Raspberry Pi. Both are single-board computers with ARM-based processors, a handful of ports and developer-friendly connectors.
But while the Raspberry Pi 3 sells for about $35, the new HiKey 960 is priced at $240. So what makes this little computer worth nearly 9 times as much? It’s got the same processor as a Huawei Mate 9 smartphone, but in a desktop-style package.
The HiKey 960 is basically aimed at Android app developers that want to create and test applications on a speedy ARM-based system. But it could probably be used for a wide range of applications if you want one of the most powerful ARM-based mini PCs around.
The system features a Kirin 960 octa-core chip with 4 ARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores, 4 ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores, and Mali-G71 MP8 graphics.
It has 3GB of LPDDR4 memory, 32GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage and a microSD card slot, an HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 Type-C port, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, a 60-pin connector and 40-pin connector.
The whole thing measures just 85mm x 55mm (3.34″ x 2.17″) which means it’s about the same size as a Raspberry Pi 3.
via PC World
at last! decent power in the chipset coupled with a decent amount of memory but oh dear the price!
Brad’s text didn’t mention it but there appears to be a connection for an SSD storage device on the underside of the board. If that’s what it’s there that’s a huge step up for these types of boards?
I’m hoping that within 5 years raspberry pi could have this performance level for $40. Or at least an additional two a72 cores, ufs 2.1 and USB 3.0.
Next update is rumored for 2019. I hope also there are will be some new horsepower and updated peripherials.
What sort of graphics acceleration would this have under linux? Or is it android only?