CHIP (Photo : YouTube/Rajamanickam Antonimuthu)
Two names in the small PC industry have been receiving a huge amount of attention from industry owners as well as customers. The first, known as CHIP, is the newest addition to the thriving small PC market. The second, known as Raspberry Pi, has been around since 2012.
CHIP has been launched as a Kickstarter project in the United States. The microcomputer costs just $9. However, apart from cost, there are many more things that you need to consider while choosing the best option. These include performance, specifications and connectivity features.
CHIP
Some people are calling CHIP a Raspberry Pi killer. CHIP, which is only as big as a credit card, has all the functions of a full computer.
The CHIP cheapest computer is equipped with optional ports for VGA and HDMI, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Furthermore, it packs 4GB of storage, 1 GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. The dirt-cheap computer is compatible with a light version of Debian.
Users can even plug the CHIP into a handheld computer called PocketCHIP. PocketCHIP is designed with a 5-hour battery, a QWERTY keyboard and a 4.3-inch touchscreen.
Customers can pair their CHIP with the HDMI for the price of $24 and a VGA adapter for $19. CHIP has an open source operating system that makes it easy to navigate.
Other features include tools and pre-installed apps. Users of CHIP will have access to hundreds of free apps, Legit Reviews reported. The CHIP can connect with Bluetooth controllers and to a MIDI keyboard for playing games. It comes with Scratch, which is a language that teaches the basic of programming for animations and games. CHIP uses LibreOffice to create word documents and edit spreadsheets.
Raspberry Pi 2
The original Raspberry Pi, which was launched back in 2012, went on to become the most famous single-board personal computer on the market.
Raspberry Pi 2 is a credit-card-size computer. It boasts 1GB of RAM and sports a quad-core Broadcom BCM2836 ARM7 clocked at 900MHz. Other specifications include microSD card slot, camera interface, a video and stereo audio jack, HDMI, Ethernet and four USB ports.
The computer picks up a default network connection through its RJ-45 Ethernet port. WiFi connection needs a separate WiFi dongle plugged in to one of the USB ports. MicroSD cards are available in sizes up to 128GB. Those who require an additional storage capacity can use an external USB hard drive.
The Raspberry Pi 2 restricts users in terms of the operating system, and thus the software, they will be able to use on it. Users are restricted to Linux and six distros: Pidora, Openelec, Raspbian, RISC OS, RaspBMC and Snappy Ubuntu Core, according to PC Mag.
