When comparing Udoo x86 Ultra vs Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, the Slant community recommends Raspberry Pi 3 Model B for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is ranked 3rd while Udoo x86 Ultra is ranked 8th. The most important reason people chose Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is:
Raspberry Pi has the largest following of any single-board computer. The amount of guides, tutorials and software available for the Raspberry Pi is unmatched by any other competitor. A regular user has close to no chance to run into a problem that hasn’t been covered already. If a web search doesn’t yield any results, the users on the official forums are very responsive and will usually reply within a day.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Capable of running as a day-to-day PC
With 8 GB of RAM and a 2.56 GHz quad-core Intel CPU, the Udoo x86 Ultra is capable of running most applications an average user would need on a daily basis without any particular problems. You can run an office suite, web browser, or an IDE the same way you would in a normal PC. It can also run some PC games such as DotA, League of Legends and Team Fortress 2 on 720p at 20-30 frames per second.
Pro Huge amounts of RAM
The Ultra version has 8GB of RAM, the Advanced version has 4GB and the basic version has 2GB (which is still more than most SBCs).
Pro Helpful guides and community
Has good guides available online and the community is quite helpful, even if a bit small.
Pro Good wired connectivity
For wired connectivity, the Udoo x86 stands out: It has three USB 3.0 ports, a SATA connector, M.2 slot, microSD slot, Ethernet, HDMI, two DisplayPort connectors, and even an IR RC5 interface. This is on par with what regular desktop computers require.
Pro spped networn in thermoplastics DVS Pro Decent graphics Intel HD graphics 405 up to 700 MHz with 16 execution units.
Intel HD graphics 405 up to 700 MHz with 16 execution units.
Pro Shear Power
Its sooooooo good
Pro Energy efficient
Even though it sports Quad Core x86 next-gen CPUs made by Intel, it's pretty energy efficient as the complete Udoo board consumes less than 11 watts of energy at any given time.
Pro Best storage capabilities
In terms of storage the Udoo x86 is a clear winner. Out of the box it comes with 32GB eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard, basically a built-in SSD). Then it’s fully up to the user to upgrade the storage as they see fit. If you need fast (but expensive) storage—an SSD is the best option. A microSD card can also be used as a storage option.
Pro X86-compatible
Very easy to run all operating systems. In terms of Linux or Android internal 32GB can be used as Read Only and additional SATA HDD/SSD/eMMC drive as /tmp and /home directories.
Pro Can be used as a gaming emulator
Supports almost all retro gaming emulators available for PC so it can be used as a retro gaming emulator. It can also emulate newer consoles like the Playstation 2 and PSP.
Pro Decent GPIO suppoort
The Udoo x86 Ultra comes with 28 GPIO ports in total which may seem small, but considering the fact that it has an Arduino 101 embedded inside, it’s actually a decent amount. The Arduino board has built-in functionality for what some of the pins would be used (like a six-axis accelerometer and gyroscope) and adds 12 additional GPIO pins. Several key communication protocols are also supported: two IIC, two UART, LPC and SDIO.
Pro Set-up is easy and straightforward
It’s absolutely straightforward to set up. The installation guides for all supported operating systems are provided in written and video form.
Pro Arduino compatible
The Udoo x86 comes with an embedded Arduino 101, with all upgrades enabled (including 6-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth).
Pro Great media streaming potential
The relatively high power makes the Udoo x86 Ultra the best single-board computer for high-quality media streaming. It can stream 30Hz 4K video on up to three monitors through HDMI and two mini display ports. This opens the doors for setting up a UHD capable media station. Applications like Netflix, Spotify, Kodi, YouTube, etc. are also supported, as Udoo x86 can run operating systems which support these applications.
Pro The largest and most active community
Raspberry Pi has the largest following of any single-board computer. The amount of guides, tutorials and software available for the Raspberry Pi is unmatched by any other competitor. A regular user has close to no chance to run into a problem that hasn’t been covered already. If a web search doesn’t yield any results, the users on the official forums are very responsive and will usually reply within a day.
Pro Affordable
The Raspberry Pi is very affordable.
Pro Easy setup
Setting up a Raspberry Pi is easy enough even for people who have not installed an OS before. The official documentation is very detailed in explaining how to install the official Raspberry Pi OS, called Raspbian and even a beginner can follow it without a problem.
Pro Large number of operating systems available
There's a massive number of Raspberry Pi OSes available. Most of them are some kind of Linux flavor and general-purpose and some other OSes are available for specific purposes like media streaming or gaming and emulation.
Pro Good GPIO functionality
The Raspberry Pi 3 model B offers 28 GPIO pins plus 12 power and ground pins to be used within their projects. This is a very reasonable number of pins for most projects that will need them. The special communication protocols officially supported are the following: IIC (Inter-Integrated Circuit), SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) and UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter). The GPIO functionality explained above allows the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to be connected with various peripheral devices and, as a result expands the functionality of the board. For example, IIC and SPI buses can be used for attaching multiple analog to digital converters which can be used to “read” analog channels like thermal sensors, humidity sensors, CO2 sensors, etc. Meanwhile UART can be used for communication between multiple Raspberry Pi’s.
Pro The default OS is great for learning to develop software
Raspbian's main goal is to be used as a teaching tool for schools in CS classes. As such, it has multiple development tools pre-installed. It comes with a Python installation, Wolfram Mathematica and Java IDEs.
Pro Great legacy gaming support
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B can be also be used as a console emulator using an OS image called RetroPie. Setting up RetroPie the first time will only take about 30 minutes on average for someone who has never done it before, and even less for experienced users. You can emulate various platforms ranging from early ‘80s legacy consoles like the NES, to more recent ones like the Wii and PlayStation Portable.
Pro Can be turned into a fully-functional multimedia center
You can easily turn any Raspberry Pi into a fully functional home media streaming station with its ability to stream 60Hz Full HD videos. You just have to hook the Model B up to a Full HD monitor (through an HDMI cable), decent speakers (the Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity will allow the use of the wireless ones). Then download applications (Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, and Kodi for example are all supported out of the box) and your home multimedia station is ready. Once built, you can even control the media station using an Android or iOS app.
Pro Native Bluetooth capabilities
The model 3 B has built-in Bluetooth support. This is very helpful when connecting multiple peripherals and when the number of USB ports on the Pi is not enough.
Pro Hundreds of apps available through the official store
Raspberry Pi also has an available "Pi Store" which houses hundreds and hundreds of apps ready to download and use on a Pi.
Pro Many debian (aptitude) packages available in ARM
Many aptitude packages are available for this device. Helping installs go quickly.
Pro Can handle basic day-to-day operations a PC can without a problem
While older versions of the Pi have had some annoying performance issues, the latest version has had a 50%-60% performance increase from the Raspberry Pi 2. This makes it a pretty decent choice for an everyday PC and it can perform basic tasks like opening and editing documents or browsing the web without a problem.
Pro Good wired connectivity
This SBC's wired connectivity is pretty complete. Users will get four USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, a 3.5mm audio jack, CSI (camera interface), and DSI (display interface).
Pro New free Pixel version has a good Chromium browser
The new free Pixel version of Raspbian (a variety of Debian Jessie) has a good Chromium web browser with Flash and Pdf handling included. Can live with little RAM: 1 GB is ok, more is super.
Pro Lightweight and fast booting Raspbian Pixel now also runs on PCs and Mac with i386 processors and little RAM
It is now also available for free ( USB booted) on PC or Mac based on i386 processors. Works well and boots fast.
The minimum USB key size needed is 2 GB. Pi promotors are working on a HDD bootable version too.
Pro Very good documentation
Extensive documentation available for beginners and experts. All sorts of projects covered.
Pro Can be used as an everyday PC
Powerful enough to run standard apps, so it can be used as a home PC.
Pro Storage can be upgraded
Uses a separate micro SD card, so the storage can be upgraded or even taken out to read from / install a new OS.
Pro Bluetooth 4.1LE
Good for lots of connectivity in projects. connects to keyboards and mice.
Pro Downloadable magazine
Has it's own magazine, also available in print with very helpful articles and project ideas.
Pro Can play 1080p videos at 60fps
The Pi 3 can play 1080p videos at 60fps, which is a significant upgrade from the previous Pi 2 which ran at 30 fps. However, the built-in browser has problem with running YouTube videos at 60fps but by using another browser such as Firefox which is installed separately there should not be any problems with running videos at 60 fps.
Pro Does not require much power to run
Runs off a 5V smartphone charger and can also be powered using a battery pack.
Pro Can easily switch OSes and profiles by a simple switch of the MicroSD card
It's super-convenient to have multiple MicroSD cards with different images and switch them on demand. Much better than re-installing and re-configuring an OS every time.
Pro Plenty of third-party accessories available
Cases, cameras, etc.
Pro Visually appealing
The board looks much prettier than, say, the Banana Pi.
Pro Has full HDMI-CEC support
Pro Makes a great home web server
Makes a great little web server. Installed "LAMP" Apache, MySQL, and PHP.
Cons
Con Very expensive for an SBC
It’s very expensive though, at least as far as single-board computers go. It’s priced at $259.
Con Poor wireless connectivity
The Udoo x86 Ultra does not have Wi-Fi or Bluetooth out of the box. However, it has an M.2 slot where an officially supported antenna module can be mounted. This module provides 803.11n Wireless LAN and 5 GHz Bluetooth 4.2 at for $15. Unfortunately, attaching the antenna will occupy the M.2 slot which could have been used for an SSD instead. Edit: there is 2 M2 slots so you can mount SSD and Bluetooth.
Con Small community
The Udoo x86 community is small as it’s just off from the Kickstarter. Not many people have their boards yet, but the fact that Udoo raised over $800,000 at Kickstarter sounds promising. The official forum seems fairly active with an average of 200 views and 5 replies per discussion.
Con The official documentation is lacking
The official documentation available at the official website is lacking. Apart from the hardware specification sheet, there’s generally not much information or project examples available for the Udoo x86 at the moment. The users will have a lot of tinkering and hacking to do if they want to achieve any positive results with their projects.
Con It's possible you'll run into problems that haven't been discussed yet
Even through the community is growing, the product is not considered mainstream. When purchasing this SBC, you should be aware that some tinkering will be required. Prolific users will also most likely run into some sort of problem that might not have yet been discussed on official resources.
Con Its price comes close to decently powerful laptop
Con Expensive board with noisy fan
Never had such expensive board with such shitty noisy fan. Worst design ever in the metal case. Without the fan get super hot. Had to buy a proper fan from noctua. Unbelievable they let this be sold with that shit installed on the heat sink
Con 4K only supports 24 FPS
Only supports HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.1a, so 4K is limited to 24 FPS.
Con Demanding games are virtually unplayable
Demanding games are technically supported, but have such a low framerate that they’re virtually unplayable.
Con Combined USB and NIC controller
The NIC is run through USB so they share bandwidth.
Con Closed-source bootloader and GPU
Con Slow WiFi
The WiFi adapter cannot support more than 2.5MB/s under perfect conditions; not enough to stream Blu-ray.
Con Limited onboard NIC capabilities
Because the Pi's ethernet port is powered by the USB bus, it is not ideal for high performance routing and switching. While some network monitoring programs may work, using this device as a content firewall or gateway is not ideal.
Con Not as powerful as some other SBCs
While still a very powerful single-board computer, it’s not as powerful as some other SBCs. For example, it has some problems with streaming 4K videos; and even at Full HD, it has problems with YouTube. It is also unable to run newer games even if they are not very demanding such as Team Fortress 2 or DotA.
Con Pretty slow comparatively at the RPI 4B
Con No ADC (analog to digital converter)
This means you need to add an ADC module or use a capacitor charge timing hack to read analog sensors.
Con GPIO voltage too low for some projects
Compared to the 5v of Arduino boards the 3.3v of the GPIO on the Rasberry Pi 3 is much lower and affects project components needed. Although, some add-ons will work with both voltages.
Con No support for UAS
The USB ports do not support USB Attached SCSI to speed up data transfer.
Con No SATA
Board has no SATA port or something similar.
Con No on-board Microphone
Con Power hungry
The Raspberry Pi 3 is a pretty power hungry single board computer. It needs a power supply of 2.5A to function which may not be already available to users and needs to be bought separately.
Con Lags while browsing and on day-to-day tasks
Keeping in mind Raspberry were designed keeping teaching and education in mind, asking it to replace our daily PC needs would be unfair. However there are many other SBCs that can serve this task easily.
Con Problems with USB 3.0 hubs
It is known that Raspberry Pi has an issue with USB 3.0 hubs in conjunction with the use of Full- or Low-speed devices (most mice, most keyboards). If you have any devices with additional USB 3.0 ports (e.g. a keyboard) they won't work on Raspberry Pi.
Con Doesn't have built-in storage
A micro SD card is required for Raspberry Pi to function.
Con ARM processor
Some programs are incompatible with the ARM-based hardware.