When comparing MinnowBoard Max vs ODROID-W, the Slant community recommends MinnowBoard Max for most people. In the question“What are the best single-board computers?” MinnowBoard Max is ranked 29th while ODROID-W is ranked 64th. The most important reason people chose MinnowBoard Max is:
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.
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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 Software compatible with the Raspberry Pi
ODROID-W is compatible with the Raspberry Pi at least as far as software goes. It can run any software built for the Pi.
Pro Amazing heat dissipation
The ODROID-W has some great heat dissipation. From studying the heat of the heatsink, the maximum temperature registered was 37 degrees Celsius, and that was registered when the board was doing a lot of unpacking through apt-get. Normally the temperature is even lower than that.
Pro Can fit most Pi cases
Since it's built to emulate the Raspberry Pi, it's roughly the same shape albeit a bit smaller. But even then it should be able to fit most Raspberry Pi cases.
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 Obsolete
Don't fall in love, this model is no longer available.
Con No on-board Ethernet
The ODROID-W has no on-board Ethernet port available, however this can be fixed by using a docking board which has an Ethernet jack.
Con Needs a multi-USB hub
Since it only has a USB host connector available for a full-sized port, you most certainly will need a multi-USB hub to connect more than one external devices to the board.