The unique $35 Raspberry Pi computer set
the PC world on its ear last year. Part computer science project and part
incredibly cheap PC, the DIY single board computer is such a hot item, some
retailers are charging double what the unit originally cost. Of course, where
there’s money, there’s Intel. The chip giant has formally introduced its $320
“Next Unit of Computer”, or NUC, PC concept basically a bare-bones, hobbyist
kit PC. While this is admittedly an apple-to-orange comparison in many
respects, we felt that hobbyists deserve to see an accounting of the pros and
cons of each in a head-on fight.
Round 1: Size
Intel’s NUC is built around an amazingly
small 4x4x2 inch chassis that Intel is hoping to make the standard for
subminiature but powerful PCs. The NUC isn’t the first we’ve seen this small,
though. The Zotac Nano XS is slightly thinner than the NUC, by about half an
inch, and VIA has its Pico-ITX boards. Of course, the Raspberry Pi has them all
beat. It comes as a single-board computer at just over 2x3 inches for the whole
package.
Winner: Raspberry Pi
Round 2: Pricing
Intel’s Ivy Bridge chips have been
amazingly lean on power consumption for the high-performance x86 chips they
are. The NUC ships with a 65-watt power brick, and the dual-core Hyper-Threaded
Core i3 is rated at 17 watts. Pretty impressive for an x86. However, when you
consider that the Raspberry Pi can run off your cell phone charger (provided it
puts out 700mA), Ivy Bridge and even the next-gen Haswell are unlikely to ever
compete with the Pi in the power-consumption game.
Winner: Raspberry Pi
Other
single-board computers have been available, so the Raspberry Pi’s real
breakthrough is its $35 price, making it exceedingly accessible for
experimentation
Round 3: Applications
We don’t mean applications as in specific
apps, but the possible uses for these wee PCs. The NUC can be used as an HTPC,
a mini Bog Picture Steam Box, or slung behind a monitor to create an
almost-all-in-one. The Raspberry Pi, on the other hand, is the perfect hobbyist
machine for students and tinkerers young and old. It’s being used to run
everything from MAME cabinets to controlling quad-copter drones. As a device
intended to introduce folks on super-tight budgets to computing concepts and
programming, the Raspberry Pi is a win no matter how you cut it. However,
Intel’s NUC is also quite superb at what it’s meant for. With its included
VESA-mount adapter, it can be used in signage applications and is basically an
incredibly powerful small machine.
Winner: Tie
Round 4: Specsmanship
At $35, the Raspberry Pi is pretty
low-powered. As a desktop UI, for example, it’s not exactly something you want
to push regularly, with its 700MHz Broadcom ARM 11 CPU, 256MB of RAM, HDMI, and
LAN and USB support. The NUC, on the other hand, is like everything Intel does:
a tour de force of specs and hardware. The NUC we have here packs a 1.8GHz
dual-core, Hyper-Threaded Core i3 chip and has Mini PCI Express slots to run an
mSATA SSD and wireless card. With its HD4000 graphics, the box is capable of
reasonable gaming with older titles, too. Hell, our version even packs that
new-fangled ultra-fast Thunderbolt port. This round is an easy win for the NUC.
Winner: NUC
This
round is an easy win for the NUC
Round 5: Performance
Again, there’s no debating this. The NUC’s
size isn’t really exciting, but its performance is. Most mini PCs have been
based on VIA’s CPUs, which aren’t exactly speed kings, or AMD’s Brazos chips,
which don’t light any fires themselves. The NUC is really fast for its class.
The Raspberry Pi, while incredibly cool for $35, isn’t something we’d be happy
pushing all day. Yes, it can run a desktop top OS, and yes, it can stream, some
media, but would you really want it to? The answer is no.
Winner: NUC
And the winner is…
The fact is, both are winners. Ok, now quit
your bitching; we honestly wouldn’t feel right if we called this for one or the
other. We think the Intel NUC is a freaking-cool little box and we can imagine
it at the heart of several projects around the house and car. At the same time,
the Raspberry Pi has so much charm and the price is so damned good (that’s the
Raspberry Pi’s real breakthrough, you know) that there’s no reason not to buy
one or two of these bare bones kits to experiment with. So maybe those of you
who thought these two devices couldn’t be compared were right.
