When comparing Embedded Now Piconium 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 9th while Embedded Now Piconium is ranked 61st. The most important reason people chose Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is:
Thanks to a new thermal management plate (heat spreader), as well as better voltage regulation, the CPU gained a nice little 200 MHz bump in clock speed over the Pi 3 Model B. Applications on the Pi 3 B+ are a little faster and snappier than their predecessor.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Performance
This thing cooks. It has 4 cores and a GPU.
Pro x86 Compatible
It uses an Intel Atom processor, so most OSes and software run on it without modification.
Pro Lots of RAM
It comes with 2GB of ECC DDR3L RAM, but they can deliver it with up to 8GB.
Pro Integration
It's slathered in ports. Because it runs Linux, there are a lot of peripherals that work out-of-the-box with it.
Pro Support
Online docs are great. Their engineers are willing to help out.
Pro Connectivity
It comes with built-in GbE and has accessories for WiFi and Bluetooth.
Pro Fanless
The board is able to operate with only a heatsink or heat spreader. Eliminating moving parts is great.
Pro Faster CPU than the original Pi 3 Model B
Thanks to a new thermal management plate (heat spreader), as well as better voltage regulation, the CPU gained a nice little 200 MHz bump in clock speed over the Pi 3 Model B. Applications on the Pi 3 B+ are a little faster and snappier than their predecessor.
Pro World-class support and software
What really sets the Raspberry Pi apart from the competition, and makes it leagues apart from every other SBC out there, it the software and support you get from every corner of the ecosystem regarding anything you want to make, build or do with the Pi. The most up-to-date kernels, the widest supported bundles, hats for every occasion, step-by-step instructions, and if you're trying something and get stuck, chances are high someone else has got stuck at the same spot, got past it, and left detailed instructions on how to get past it so nobody ever gets stuck there again. That is the best feature of the Raspberry Pi.
Pro Faster networking capabilities
Because of the Gigabit ethernet (although still sharing the USB 2.0 bus which limits its speed ceiling), it goes up to 3x faster than the original Pi 3 Model B. The new wireless chip supports 802.111ac, which also increases its throughput to 3x as well. Bluetooth 4.2 LE is much more stable, and it's just a nice little upgrade.
Pro Great community and developer support
The various addons boards means this is the board to go with for starters into development. Without much knowledge you can get a project up and running in a short amount of time.
Cons
Con Cost
This is an expensive board, but for a reason. It's built with rugged components for professional products. It's overkill if you are looking for a board to tinker with.
Con Superseded
the newer Model 4 is available for the same price and can do everything this does and more.
Con USB and Ethernet bandwidth shared
For cloud servers (OwnCloud, NextCloud, FTP, Media Hosting, etc...) it will take a dip on the transfer performance (when using ethernet combined with a USB Storage device) as the same controller handles the USB and Ethernet interfaces. Better performance than its predecessor, but something to keep in mind.
Con Only USB 2.0
It only has USB 2.0 ports which are painfully slow but they are also limited to 0.5 A which is not enough to power a HDD reliable.
Con Not for power users
The Pi has a 5V/2.5A DC power input which is not enough.
Con Bluetooth is very unstable - never fails to fail
Many times after successfully pairing devices it just stops working. One speaker worked for about 5minutes then stopped. Since then it will pair but will not connect. Yes the speakers work in Windows and with a Samsung Galaxy S8. Its seems to have more to do with the Raspbian OS, since using a BlueTooth dongle with it gives the same results.