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Add to SafariWhen comparing MinnowBoard Max 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 MinnowBoard Max is ranked 29th. 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.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Completely open source
MinnowBoard is a non-profit backed by Intel. meaning it gets advice for its architecture by Intel. But all hardware and software parts, including all drivers are completely free and open source.
Pro USB 3.0 available
The MinnowBoard Max has 2 USB ports, one of which is a USB 3.0.
Pro Great for hacking away
Other than releasing all drivers as open source, Intel has also made the schematics of the board available to download. This way, hackers can give it a try and build anything they want without restrictions.
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 Multi-USB hub almost a necessity
Because it has only two USB ports, one of which to be used for charging, a multi-USB hub is needed to connect a keyboard and mouse which are the absolute minimal external devices to be able to use and configure the MinnowBoard.
Con No official OS images have the kernel with GPIO enabled
Although this is not the board's fault per-se, no official OS image has enabled support for GPIO. But if the kernel is compiled from source, it can be compiled with GPIO and PWM enabled.
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.
