ASUS Announces a Single-Board Computer to take on the Raspberry Pi market

 Those that truly know me know that I have been itching to get my hands on a small inexpensive computer device that I could use to help to take Peach OSI to the next level. Late in January of this year I got wind of a new Asus creation dubbed the Asus 90MB0QY1-M0EAY0 Tinker Board which at that time I was hearing that it was coming into the fray to compete against the Raspberry Pi. Well I’ve been using a Raspberry Pi myself now since the Pi 3 came on the scene for an inexpensive HTPC alternative for the bedroom. My Peach Pi TV was created for just this reason. It’s been about 7 months now and I have to say that the Raspberry Pi 3 has performed flawlessly. I use it with Kodi and what once was a special skin I modified for Kodi and coupled with a HD Homerun Prime device from Silicondust I not only enjoy the Raspberry Pi as a Kodi HTPC but it delivers 720P live television broadcasts of over 500 channels. (the HDHomerun box delivers the separate Cable TV service that I pay for). This eliminated the need for any rental equipment from the cable company and gives me the ability tun the Raspberry Pi 3 much like you would use any DVR. The caveat being that the Raspberry Pi 3 can only deliver 720p to my 42” 1080p television. So I am itching to get my hands on the Asus Tinker Board so I can conduct a side by side comparison. From my reading and searches it seems that the exclusive handling of this little Asus board is going to be entrusted to the people at Farnell or farnell.com. If you are reading this and you know differently – please advise – as I have searched the Farnell site and it appears that they are not offering as of the writing of this article. So with no device to test I’m going to try to summarize what I’ve read about this Asus Tinker Board. Click on "Read More" below to see the specs and more info.

According to the Tech Times – The Tinker Board has been rumored before but now it has finally been released with the full technical specifications which could blow you away, especially if your planned project for the Raspberry Pi 3 is to build a home media system.

Also listed on Tech Times are the following spec comparisons to the Raspberry Pi 3

With those given specs we can assert the following improvements over the Raspberry Pi 3. A faster CPU, double the RAM capability with 2GB dual channel LPDDR3 RAM on board, HDMI 2.0 with 4k resolution, 192k/24bit Audio Playback, faster and more functional Ethernet and Wi-Fi capability and last but not least – better support for Kodi. Priced at almost double the cost of the Raspberry Pi 3 board the Asus Tinker Board is still reasonably priced at $68.00. So if any of you tech savvy geeks out there could help me to acquire one of these Tinker Boards it would be greatly appreciated! Who knows what my mind and this little beauty along with Peach OSI could come uo with?