When comparing Intel NUC vs Google Coral, the Slant community recommends Intel NUC for most people. In the question“What is the most powerful single board computer?” Intel NUC is ranked 1st while Google Coral is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose Intel NUC is:
The Atom based Celeron and Pentium NUCs have a very low TDP of 10 or 15W.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Low TDPs
The Atom based Celeron and Pentium NUCs have a very low TDP of 10 or 15W.
Pro Intel based GPU
Almost any OS has support for the intel i9xx based GPUs.
Pro x86/amd64-based
Plenty of Operating Systems to choose.
Pro HDMI-CEC
6th gen+ models have CEC support.
Pro Heatsink Included
Google Coral boards include a heatsink and a fan to ensure the MXU and the SoC are within optimal temperatures.
Pro Flash Memory Included
Unlike Raspberry Pi and some boards, Google Coral has a built in 8GB eMMC flash storage. Perfect if you want to flash another distro or if micro SDs are too unreliable.
Pro AI/ML Native
Google Coral SBCs are designed primarily for AI and ML in the edge. Each board carries a Edge TPU - a smaller version of Google's own ASIC chips used to power Google AI.
Cons
Con Intel is a bitch
For an M2-port, HDR, better GPU power or more RAM support Intel wants you to buy the much higher priced iX-based models even if HDR would be possible on Atom GPU's.
Con Expensive
If you're tight in budget, Google Coral isn't for you. One unit costs roughly 150 USD - compared to Raspberry Pi 4 which is only up to 55 USD for the 4GB RAM model.
Con No third party distribution support
Based on documentation, there is no support beyond its own preinstalled distribution built exclusively for Google Coral. You're basically stuck with their own distribution.
Con 1GB LPDDR4 RAM only
There is no larger RAM option for Google Coral boards. You're stuck with the 1GB LPDDR4 RAM - which is comparably the same as Raspberry Pi 4 in its introductory price.
