When comparing Intel NUC Kit NUC7i3BNH vs Rock64 (4GB), the Slant community recommends Rock64 (4GB) for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” Rock64 (4GB) is ranked 2nd while Intel NUC Kit NUC7i3BNH is ranked 27th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Comes with appropriate case and mounting hardware for storage drives
While the cost may seem steep compared to other SBC options, seldom are those other options sold with a case that will also house your storage drives and provide adequate cooling for the entire setup.
Pro SATA III port and M.2 NVMe connector with on-board RAID-0/RAID-1 controller
The ability to harness the power of a standard 2.5" SATA III drive and an M.2 NVMe drive with four PCI Express 3.0 lanes means that sequential read rates in excess of 3GB/sec if both are SSDs. Add to that hardware RAID support and it's hard to imagine a more powerful digital storage platform anywhere near this size.
Pro Gigabyte ethernet
Pro USB 3 Bus support
Pro Can have up to 4gb of low power RAM
Pro eMMC
Pro Beats Raspberry Pi on price and performance
Pro Main header Pi 3 pin layout
Can use Pi shields.
Pro Runs Dietpi Debian loads well - MUST use the PINE64 Installer for software loading
Pro Barrel power connector
More rugged connection. Less likely to be damaged.
Pro 4K/60h hdmi 2a
Pro Extra Gpio pins
Cons
Con Higher initial costs than most other options
It's clearly not a budget option for building a home NAS, but if you want performance and more importantly, scalability, then you'll reap the benefits of the extra upfront costs many times over as you upgrade the memory, add peripherals via USB-C and put that 7th Generation Core i3 processor to work.
Con Power connector is not MicroUSB or MiniUSB
Can't use power banks as a power source because of that.
Con No on-board Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
Con Lack of support, Unstable USB 3,
Only Android with TV UI is available. It is almost unusable with a touchscreen display.
Community is somewhat helpful but is very small. The board developers do not participate in community discussions. No regular Android build available. Lack of accessories and project guidelines.