NanoPi NEO4 photos: Up close with the Raspberry Pi rival

NanoPi NEO4 vs Raspberry Pi 3

The NanoPi NEO4 is roughly half of the size of the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ on the far right and even smaller than the little brother of the Pi family, the Pi 3 A+.

Unfortunately that size advantage enjoyed by the NEO4 disappears if you opt for the optional heatsink, a large chunk of metal that completely covers the board, adding significant bulk and leaving it thicker than the average smartphone.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Under the board

A look under the board gives you a clear look at the RK3399 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which relies on two sets of CPU cores, a dual-core 2GHz Arm Cortex-A72 paired with a quad-core 1.5GHz Arm Cortex-A53 in a Big.LITTLE configuration, designed to swap tasks between cores for greater power efficiency.

Also pictured in the top left is the SD card slot, which supports SD cards of up to 128GB.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Rockchip 3399

While there have been a number of Rockchip RK3399 boards announced lately, the NanoPi NEO4 is one of the smallest to have been released so far.

Unsurprisingly the NanoPi NEO4 racked up similar CPU benchmarks to the Rock Pi 4 SBC, which also is based around the RK3399 SoC, although the NEO4 did sneak into the lead in a couple.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

USB-C and HDMI 2.0

Like many of the Rockchip RK3399 boards, the NanoPi NEO4 is powered using a USB-C port, which you can see on the left of the image.

Also in the shot is the HDMI 2.0a port, which can output a 4K image at 60FPS to monitors.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet

The board sports one USB 3.0 port and one USB 2.0 port, both Type-A, alongside Gigabit Ethernet.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

eMMC socket and USB pins

To the left of the image you can see the eMMC socket, which supports up to 128GB of storage. and in the bottom righthand corner the 2.54mm header for adding another USB 2.0 host port, as well as the debug UART pins.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Wi-Fi antenna

Picking up Wi-Fi requires fitting an antenna, although I was only able to get it to pick up a 2.4GHz networks and it was unable to pick up 5GHz networks.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

microSD card

A closer look at the microSD card slot on the board's underside.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Camera interface

The camera connector for the NanoPi NEO4, which offers a 4-Lane MIPI-CSI connector, supporting up to a 13 megapixel camera.

SEE: More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Expansion header

The 40-pin expansion header for the NanoPi NEO4, which may work with some Raspberry Pi hardware add-ons, due to the first 26 pins being compatible with the Raspberry Pi.

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Also see

• Rock Pi 4 review: Is this the Raspberry Pi challenger you've been looking for? (TechRepublic)
• Rock Pi 4: A closer look at the new Raspberry Pi challenger (TechRepublic)
• Hardware spotlight: The Raspberry Pi (Tech Pro Research)
• How the Raspberry Pi was created: A visual history of the $35 board (TechRepublic download)
• Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ review: A $25 computer with a lot of promise (TechRepublic)
• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ review: Hands-on with the new board (TechRepublic)
• Cheap but powerful Raspberry Pi rival: $45 NanoPi Neo4 is six-core Android board with USB 3.0 and 4K support (TechRepublic)
• A Raspberry Pi-style computer you can build yourself: Blueberry Pi (ZDNet)
• What are the best Raspberry Pi alternatives? Everything you need to know about Pi rivals(ZDNet)
• More Raspberry Pi coverage (TechRepublic Flipboard magazine)

Image: Nick Heath / TechRepublic