Raspberry Pi 5 vs Intel N100 Mini PC - Which Is Right For You
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- Опубликовано: 3 июл 2024
- In this video, we compare the Raspberry Pi 5 and the Intel N100 mini PC to help you decide which one is best suited for your needs. We'll dive into the specs, performance, and features of both devices to give you a clear understanding of what each has to offer so that you have all of the information you need to make an informed decision.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
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Visit my blog for the write-up and more detailed test results - www.the-diy-life.com/raspberr...
PURCHASE LINKS
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Beelink Mini S12 Pro N100 Mini PC - amzn.to/3KXLW7e
Raspberry Pi 5 - amzn.to/4c5RiZX
Pi 5 Active Cooler - amzn.to/3KZVA9s
Pi 5 Power Supply - amzn.to/3XyEruZ
Pimoroni NVMe Base - bit.ly/3vrAbSa
Lexar NVMe SSD - amzn.to/3RGNYMS
Equipment Used
Video Capture Box - amzn.to/3s6js1B
Mains Power Meter - amzn.to/4cB7AtK
Some of the above parts are affiliate links. By purchasing products through the above links, you’ll be supporting this channel, at no additional cost to you.
CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
1:02 Pi 5 & N100 Setups
4:03 Test Process
8:02 Results & Final Thoughts
If you've got any ideas for Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or other Electronics projects or tutorials you'd like to see, let me know in the comments section. 
Наука
The real advantage of the N100 is compatibility. Some server software doesn't support Arm. Especially if you want to use OpnSense or PfSense.
9:13 - I think that hits the nail on the head. I see the resistors for indicating 1/2 GB of RAM on the board... I have to wonder if they're sitting on a 1 or 2 GB Pi 5 model that could be sold for $40 or $45. That would make the low-end Pi 5 a great option and bring back some of the price advantage if you don't need lots of RAM for projects, but want some of the speed or CSI/DSI lane performance of the Pi 5.
I agree, if they could get a 2GB Pi 5 out for $10 more than the Pi 4, that would be a good value proposition.
Raspberry needs to earn money, memory chips are cheap today and 4/8 GB model don't reflect that for sure. If they release too cheap base model we will see some companies or individuals that resolder those and still be able to get some profit.
@@MichaelKlements i’m not sure cheap is coming back to the pi world once it’s floated on the stock market - investors always want more profit.
RUclips playback on a Pi 5 is not a software issue, it's a hardware issue. The Pi 5 has no hardware decoders for VP9, nor AV1. You can force YT fall back to h264 with the browser plugin h264ify.
Yes he is right. I have tried this plugin on my raspberry and it worked fine. I think the official raspberry OS has it install all ready on the browser, im not sure.
Raspberry Pi 5 has H.265/HEVC decoding. It does not have H.264 decoding like the Raspberry Pi 4. It should be fast enough to do H.264 in software though.
BTW, HEVC is the main codec for Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. RUclips hasn't adopted it for some reason.
@@harleyn3089 pretty sure there are licensing costs for hevc.
Exactly, Intel GPU hardware decoding support on Linux is way way better. Most browsers support VAAPI but not V4L2 which most ARM processors are based.
AV1 is an open-source codec that is royalty free while HEVC costs money to use. I hope google never pays MPEG LA, horrible group imo, to license HEVC. Companies should move to AV1 instead since it is free has better quality at similar bitrates vs HEVC especially when doing higher resolutionsm Netflix has been delivering some HD and UHD stuff in AV1 for a while now. Amazon is a member of the AV1 group and the latest firestick has av1 decoding hardware so hopefully soon they use it.@harleyn3089
Excellent comparative review. Thank you.
Let's admit we outgrew RPi. Most got them for cheap tinker projects, maybe a small fraction used GPIO, but they are too limited. Hey, they are still pretty cool, like your first car, but now you know what you need and RPi came too little too late.
I agree, but I think it's more accurate to say the Pi outgrew its previous use case. They're now too expensive (not to mention hard to find) for cheap tinker projects, and if you need it for a project with more oomf, too weak (performance-wise) to trade blows with others in the same price range. It lost its niche.
@@sniperoth I bought 4 8GB model 4 to use for clustering, tinkering, and HAOS use but I don’t think I’d buy anything except a 400 perhaps. Mini PC and proxmox now.
Thanks! Great work! was looking for this.
Thank you Alexander!
N100 is very good. Asrock N100M owner, poor pcie support in Linux kernel 6.69. Do not recommend N100M. Recommend N100.
a good, balanced review. well done.
Wow did not expect the CPU score to be so close. I would have thought higher CPU and a more mature CPU arch would have given Intel a bigger win.
The Pi's are great, early adopter starting with the original Pi model A, I have over a dozen Pi's running up to the 4 8G, as the Pi 5 has steadily grown out of the 'acceptable pi price range'. I love my Pi's but I've started buying N100 boards for computing and using more ESP32 microcontrollers for projects.
This is pretty much the idea im going for. My original pi 3B+ i got is just too sluggish for my needs for a built in PC for my car, so ill be opting for an actual x86 based PC, and then using my esp32 boards as required. Still looking at options, but since ill be running Linux instead of windows ill get better mileage out of it anyways. Been looking into possibly getting a latte panda for it, but might get better specs for the same price elsewhere
I think the comparison is a bit unfair, until the very end, when the GPIO is discussed. There, the easy access and availability of the PI5 is unbeaten. So, it starts to make sense to go for the PI if you say I want something that consumes less and reads sensors or controls stuff. PI4 consumes even less, so it could at times make even more sense. Personally, I still prefer the PI over a PC even for home server/lab dockerized platform, when it has enough juice to do it properly.
Great share! Thanks! What do you think of the ZimaBlade 7700?
The ZimaBlade 7700 is also a great budget friendly option and the PCIe port allows you to really customise it to suit your application.
I have proxmox running on N100 which is mostly used for arr stack apps and jellyfin. It handles 1 video transcode 4k HDR to SDR or multiple without HDR or lower resolution. Good enough for me.
It will be interesting if the Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU drives significant change across the industry. The Raspberry Pi 6 may end up with a far more powerful CPU? If you consider all the mainstream PC companies like Dell, ASUS, Lenovo etc are releasing notebooks based on ARM processors, and Apple is already ARM based....it should place greater demand for software compatibility across all architecture types.
Raspberry will stay with Broadcom, maybe another company will release SBC with the last snapdragon but low probability.
During the shortages I went with a secondhand HP Prodesk Mini as per ExplainingComputers recommendation for a Pi alternative, and for a similar price to these you get a 6th or 7th gen i5/i7, up to 16GB RAM, a full 4 lane NVMe M.2 and a lot of extras like USB-C ports, DisplayPort++, and even 2.5 gigabit ethernet upgrades. You can even swap out the CPU for the non-T version and put something like an i7-7700 in them with the 90W power adapter. So much power for the same price as these, so that's another option for a Pi alternative.
I’m not a Windows user, but you failed to mention that the Beelink also comes with W11 Pro installed, at a current retail costs of $147.99 on Amazon. I just bought the Beelink ($169) to replace my aging desktop PC. I installed Ubuntu-Cinnamon 24.04. So far very pleased with its performance. I also added a 500gig ssd sata drive to mount the linux system on. So I have a dual boot capability through the bios boot option. Thanks for the comparison review.
Hey there Bill,
I also have beelink eq12 mini pc with Intel n100.
And I use windows on it but previously I have tried installing Ubuntu on it but I had problems with RUclips playback on it.( Huge Framedrops)
But youtube playback on windows is perfect 4k and even 8k works smooth.
Did you face any problem with RUclips on Linux?
Thanks and regards.👍
@@vinsan98 I didn’t test it. I typically use the RUclips app on my tablet.
That is another benefit of the N100 and obviously adds additional value. I overlooked it because it's not an option for the Pi 5 and my main focus was "what can you replace a Pi 5 with"
I have 2 Peladn WI-4's, I have been running open media vault on one of them for over a year 24/7 and it's never missed a beat. The other one runs proxmox with 3 VM's (1 x MS Server 2022, Home Assistant and Pi-Hole) no problem,
I would defo reccomend running these Mini PC's as they cost pennies per day.
Regarding the performance on video playback i have the same situation when using firefox, but when using chromium it goes really smooth.
Pi is not intended for "Power", but instead "Flexibility". The low power consumption, the header, and the different connectors with also the os support is where it really shines and still is just unbeatable, not being the first option as a general use computer, but the ability to be used as one is great.
Thanks
For GPIO: If you use ready2go projects (like building a PiStorm for an Amiga) definitly they are a plus. For theese projects you need the Pi anyways (and the correct version). But if you do your own projects as a beginner, it is quite simple to destroy GPIOs or the whole Pi. So using external hardware might be the better option. Esp. the PiPico is available extremly cheap and contains enough for most DIY experiments.
Bough a mini pc, n100, 32gb ram 1 tb ssd, 2x2.5 rj45. €200. Very usefull. Gonna buy another one to use as a usb audio to dante box. That way I can get a setup for 1500 with more utility than the cheapest dante mixer at 2300
On the GPIO pins the UP Board has released the "UP 7000" SBC with a N100 (or N50) onboard, and a 40--Pin GPIO. It also has faster DDR5 RAM as well (in fact some N100 Mini PCs have DDR5 too). In the end though it really is all a big "depends" answer. For me HTPC, Emulation, and regular IoT stuff makes the N100 a go to for the price.
I have the T8 Firebat with ddr5 16gb 4800Mhz. In bios you set it to 4800Mhz and increase TDP from 15w stock to 30w. It cost less than the Pi5 mentioned here..Its faster at browsing than my 14900k on 1000mbit cat6. It must be something with the browser optimizing for this mini pc making browsing lightning fast. If you blink you wont see a new page loaded. The bios is pretty advanced so you can adjust how fast the cpu will ramp up its frequency. It also accepted undervolting so I can run turbo speeds for longer. The included copper heatpipe onboard is so much better than any of those poorly made you see on the Pi, and its included rofl. The network coverage isnt superb out of the box, but if you loosen the 1 of the 2 internal sticker wifi antennas inside it can become really good. I mounted each one in vertical plane and horizontal plane inside the housing. Since its just a sticker antenna it was an easy mod. (instead of both beeing parallell on top, I put one vertical on the sidewall). The best thing is that it just works, no insane hassle that some of the Android or Linux gives you.. I had one problem caused by win update, it reinstalled the wrong network driver so I had to redownload the correct one from Realtek site. Other than that it has been working fine.
What a great looking Pi!
from RPi4B daily driver desktop I went for the N5105 first then upgraded to this N100 (and will be upgrading further to N97, very soon)
though I also bought RPi5B boards (4GB and 8GB)....but considering the cost to make it a daily driver desktop, the N100 proved far more attractive...
Like millions of others, I got into Raspberry Pi long ago (Pi2) via Emulation, and I had great fun until Pi 5 was released. Whilst still a fantastic SBC, after my own testing, it simply can't compete with x86 emulation anymore. I have jumped to the GMKtec G5 N97, which, Like the Pi, this Micro NUC is super tiny, and the N97 CPU/DDR5/1200mHZ graphics beat my N100 for speed and graphics for the same price. Now, once more, I'm having a blast with emulation again.
We can guess from the 1080p playback, but 4K video also works well on the N100 (typically).
Yes I had no issue with 4K video playback on the N100 as well
I've been wanting to have an experience using raspberry pi but i'm afraid of wasting my money as I have no hands on experience with the pi computers...
If you're just looking at experimenting with a Pi then a base Pi 4 is the best value for money at $35.
@@MichaelKlements oh, ok. thanks... question, can Pi4 work with arduino and vice versa?
The pi experience is as good now as it's ever been. It's a good time to get into it. From a certain point of view, a pi is just a linux computer, so getting into it is no harder than getting into linux itself (maybe a little easier because you can be sure the hardware is going to work well). Obviously there are a lot of niches for a pi, so that part depends on what you want to do/tinker with. Good luck :)
I built portable IRL live streaming setup using Quick Sync hardware video encoder in N100.
The only advantage of Pi's nowadays is a really fast GPIO to run LED matrices. Yet you don't need an RPi5 for that and it's still not the best tool for the task.
The DDR5 version of the N100 is up to 30% faster! The only scenario's that the Pi5 makes sense is if a SD card is sufficient and especially if you dont need much memory.
Which kind of PC of this size, is the next higher class? Eventually with DisplayPort/s ?
Probably an N200 based mini PC. Lot's of mini PCs support display port over USB C
@@MichaelKlements Thank you.
Since Raspberry Pi Foundation have decided to go the way of overpriced and underwhelming desktop PCs, the N100 alternative is very welcome!
Not sure what you're finding over priced? They essentially the same price they have been for a while for a given ram configuration.
Nice video !
I had the opportunity to compare Raspberry Pi 5 and Odroid H4 Plus (with an N97 processor slightly more efficient than the N100).
While the N97/N100 is much more efficient than the Pi5, the performance per watt in various benchmarks is better for the Pi5.
All depends on whether you need higher performance (then N100) or much lower energy consumption (then RPi5).
Anything with video will be more power efficient on the N100, with the exception of h265 playback. The N100 has hardware acceleration for practically all current codecs. RUclips playback with the Pi 5 is done on the CPU, making it use more power.
@@LivingLinux I was confused with the N95 ... the N97 seems to have the same iGPU as the N100. But Odroid H4 plus seems to be so expensive that it comes into Ryzen territory and that's off course more powerfull. After the N100 revolution this year now the Ryzen revolution will follow with ARM systems getting more expensive they are loosing their former territory.
I was hoping for SATA ports on the N100 to build a NAS with 3.5" HDD
There are N100 compatible motherboards available with additional SATA ports.
The small form factor of the pi is what sells it. Corporations can build or put pis into their hardware and it does not take up a lot of space or power, The competition from pis forced intel prices down.
The S12 Pro can be upgraded to 32GB ram
Upgradablility is another advantage of the S12 and most N100 PCs
Hi michael klements i messages so many time in 7 segment servo motor clock in your youtude comment pls because i making project but i face one problem in that digit 2 not wroking properly in hour and minutes can guide me please 😢
If your going to go with the n100 you're more likely better off with something like a HP 600 G4 Mini for a little over $100. 6 cores, dual channel DDR4 ram, nvme, 2.5 SSD, 2.5 or 10Gb Ethernet. Much better platform, even if older.
Chances are if you just want to mess with GPIO, you already have a PC. Why buy a N100 at all? If the whole point is to have some permanent or semi-permanent something, sure get the PI. But for messing around chances are you already have the PC to do so.
The elephant in the room being the $150 Gen7 ProLiant servers you can pick up on fleaBay, with a proper Xeon, tonnes of ram, and more power consumption than an air conditioning unit in a brothel.
Used computer hardware is readily available in the USA but is more difficult to come by and often expensive elsewhere in the world.
And the Pi5 8gb is cheaper than a N100
And the ARM SBC competitors aren't much cheaper. The Pi had a market bubble and prices will have to change or..
Unfortunately the N100 systems seems to get more expensive (especially the better DDR5 versions) now people start to realize that most ARM SBC's are less value for money. A lot of webshops try to sell their old stuff first. So it's a bit of a stale mate atm. But al fairness if 4GB is enough and if you only gonna use a SD card a Raspberry Pi5 is a reasonable good deal. The other ARM SBC competitiors are living in lala land with their prices it seems.
No Android on the PC.
Raspberry Pi is starting to lose some of its shine. I rather now get a mini PC running a N100. A N100 CPU is many many times more powerful than even a Rpi 5
s ARM CPU. It can run x86 software. Plus built in hardware transcoding and plenty of I/O options.
For me the thing I need from a raspberry pi is the I/O pins
you can literally plug a $5 arduino/ESP into the mini-PC and have GPIO capabilities
@@vigigamehacker123 I know that but sometimes it's nicer to have it all in one unit, that's what use I could see for a Pi
That is usually one of the main reasons people get a Pi. I tend to prefer using Arduinos or ESP32s for long term projects in any case as there is no boot time, updates or power outage concerns to worry about.
@@assassinul95 But in a Pi5 you dont have a SSD slot in one unit. That's exactly the reason for not buying a Pi5 if you want SSD speed. SD is getting to the limits now with speed needed for newer systems. I'm using Ubuntu Pi on a Pi400 with SD card and it's annoyingly slow.
N100 for the win...
Err... also, the N100 is double the price of an RPi 5 from what I can find. Of course you can be faster if you throw more money at your hardware.
Fan, case, heat sink, power supply, storage........
You need to add a few things to a base Pi 5 to get it to run, and to the same specs as the N100 PC.
With the most expensive setup for pi 5, this youtube video is dead on (as of post date)... however, if you go with a cheaper option using most of the prices listed, 60+5+12 and then $5 for sd card you come to $82, roughly half the cost of the above setup with nearly the same capabilities... The pricing on the pi will stay stable (barring more covid induced shortages) whereas the cost of the n100 system is variable and subject to fluctuation. the $82 figure takes into account the situation that exists today, if they ever release a 2 gig model (and there have been hints that they will), that price goes to 40+5+12+5 = $62.... There are a lot of good reasons to buy an n100 computer, x86 compatibility for gaming is really high on my personal list, but many of these comparisons compare the most expensive pi setups with the least expensive pc setups, which can be interesting, but they ignore that the pc setups have hit the bottom of their range and the pi just got started.
the real problem with rp5 is the price, is cost $50 or $60 it self is a gg buy , all accesories included can reach $150 (RP5 8gb $60, active cooling $5, PowerSupply $20, ssd $40,m.2 port $15 , case $10)
the lack of ARM support is the only issue with the Pi
and no hardware transcoding.
What do you mean? It runs ARM cores.
If you don't need GPIO, why bother?
+cost of long term support, software that works and employees that pay taxes and so contribute to my own country (pi5). Not a criticism of the tech comparison, just the price comparison
Pi 5 is a bad board for any kind of desktop or media center usage. It lacks essential hardware acceleration. N100 all the way.
The single 5 volt power input makes me think that is was built specifically with industry in mind, as they can have a super high amperage 5 volt line. Also, industry doesn't need 3.5 mm jacks. This is why it's gone. 2 USB controllers are nice, but the power delivered through them is quite limited for consumer stuff.
The only thing it has going for itself hardware-wise is the power efficiency, but the alternatives like RK3588 boards are good too.
N100 is just great and cheap CPU, has 9 pcie 3.0 lanes, so we can get many interesting computers, including this one,
Pi5 is just expensive for those features. If we could get 2.5 ETH and m.2 with at least 2x pcie 3.0 lanes this could be far better product. For such comparison n100 is just bit bigger and much better. Rockchip flagship SoC is something that is still cheaper than intel, also much better than pi, in few areas than na n100.
Let’s plain honest: since the last price explosion the pi is not a good price point anymore and even that the raspberry pi market is not exploding right now, no one guarantees that this could happening again. The so called „chip crisis“ was fake or why did the raspberry pi foundation kept products back for OEMs? Yeah artificial limitations
I got after all that crap to the good old x86 architecture where I’m not limited to one vendor and his greed. And the other copies of the raspberry pi have been the same mess. And where are talking about 300 bucks each and everyone of them.
So each and every intel and amd machine is a better buck for the price. From my servers I got an amd cpu with 16 cores, 16 gig of ram and nvme ssd for 300 bucks each.
1st
n100 CPU everyday given its QuickSync video hardware transcoding. It isn’t even close. 😮
Graphics: N100
Everything else: Pi 5
No that's a thinking error. Almost anything else you can buy a cheaper less powerfull solution for.
Beelink never again!
All Beelinks can play 4K files and streaming no problem. Raspberry Pi can only do 1080p, even the newest ones.