Putting the Raspberry Pi Zero against the MangoPi MQ Pro was something I’d wanted to do since seeing the MQ Pro’s announcement and specifications. It just seemed to make sense. On paper, they’re largely similar, with 1GHz single-core CPUs, and 512MB of RAM. A 1GB MQ Pro is also available and is what I’ll be using here so your mileage may vary slightly if you have the 512MB version.
So what happens when you pit these relatively similar single-board computers against each other?
That also ignores the price side of things. The Raspberry Pi Zero W retails for around £10GBP (keep an eye out on rpilocator if you’re currently in the market) in the UK through authorised retailers whereas the Mango Pi MQ Pro 1GB model tested here will run you around £23 if you manage to get one through the official store when they have stock (these prices both include GST/VAT at 20%). At £23 I still think it’s worth it to get your hands on a small RISC-V based board that offers twice as much, faster RAM and better performance in a lot of areas but if you’re purely interested in the price this may not appeal to you.
RISC-V is steadily progressing, and if a relatively low performance boards like this aren’t your thing, there’s more powerful boards incoming, such as Pine64’s Star64.
The market has standardized on the RP. Terriblefire and all other modules (maybe not all, but close) are based on the RP. Good luck using anything else for hardware emulation outside a true FPGA or hardware compatible.
Sadly a RP is no where near the suggested cost here in scandinavia. The lowest model is around 1050SEK (120 USD) nowadays.
Another device I want to test, and another device that is not in stock at retail prices.
$42+ from Alibaba: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256803961777862.html?gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt
I am really sad about this current situation. A few years ago not having free shipping on Raspberry Pi was my concern, today I would be more than okay with that.