Liking ARM. Now time to upgrade

[PoetPhilosopher]

I find myself liking ARM computers. I bought 2 around last year.

The first is a Pi 400 - basically a Pi 4 4GB. Now that the kinks with the Pi 4 have mostly been worked out, I find it a good platform. Performance is still lacking, though.

I also own a NVIDIA Jetson Nano. Performance is everything I need for my projects. The problem is that it's really weird and not very user friendly. I got tired of spending my time basically fighting it when I could be using that same amount of time on art and programming projects. To be clear, I don't want to spend 40 percent of my time with a computer just fighting the platform.

So I'm thinking about getting a better ARM computer. I have nothing against going x86, but x86 is just really expensive right now, making the price-to-performance ratio pretty terrible.

Here are some I'm thinking about so far:

Odroid N2+

RockPro64

By the way, I find myself pulling out pretty good performance for my projects from these ARM devices. I know that if you look online at benchmarks, it's really really mixed results. But I'm finding the Pi 4 about like a modern Pentium/i3 and the Jetson Nano about like a modern i3/i5 in performance, all things being equal. Some tests may not indicate this, though, as some programs are really just programmed for x86, and as a result don't run very well on ARM.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

By the way, if any tech experts point out that the Pi 4 CPU is better than the Jetson Nano CPU... it is on paper. But the Jetson Nano has much more power going through it at full TDP, and it makes a difference and makes things much faster on these power cramped devices. So in the right circumstances, even the CPU itself of the Jetson Nano can probably beat the Pi 4's fancier CPU.

 

[Revoltingest]

So not an Adjustable Rate Mortgage loan, eh.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I find myself liking ARM computers. I bought 2 around last year.

The first is a Pi 400 - basically a Pi 4 4GB. Now that the kinks with the Pi 4 have mostly been worked out, I find it a good platform. Performance is still lacking, though.

I also own a NVIDIA Jetson Nano. Performance is everything I need for my projects. The problem is that it's really weird and not very user friendly. I got tired of spending my time basically fighting it when I could be using that same amount of time on art and programming projects. To be clear, I don't want to spend 40 percent of my time with a computer just fighting the platform.

So I'm thinking about getting a better ARM computer. I have nothing against going x86, but x86 is just really expensive right now, making the price-to-performance ratio pretty terrible.

Here are some I'm thinking about so far:

Odroid N2+

RockPro64

By the way, I find myself pulling out pretty good performance for my projects from these ARM devices. I know that if you look online at benchmarks, it's really really mixed results. But I'm finding the Pi 4 about like a modern Pentium/i3 and the Jetson Nano about like a modern i3/i5 in performance, all things being equal. Some tests may not indicate this, though, as some programs are really just programmed for x86, and as a result don't run very well on ARM.

Whatcha use them for, and how important is portability?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Whatcha use them for, and how important is portability?

Art, programming, and playing old games, mostly. The software scene has gotten a bit better these days. Really the only thing you're mostly missing out on is modern games.

As for how important portability is.... we're talking hardware portability, right? I'm not a huge fan of ATX sized desktops, but if I found a really good solution in x86, I'd be open to Mini ITX or larger. The problem with x86? Prices have almost doubled in my country. The only exceptions being many laptops, as well as a few deals on junky PCs on the Walmart site.

So I'm not saying that ARM is really better than x86. What I am saying is that some of these little ARM machines are pretty efficient, and there are cases where getting something like a x86 Celeron or Pentium, won't very often even truly beat one.

As for my budget, it'd be $500-$600. Though you could really buy two or three machines on that amount if you go ARM. Not saying I want two or three - just saying.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Art, programming, and playing old games, mostly. The software scene has gotten a bit better these days. Really the only thing you're mostly missing out on is modern games.

As for how important portability is.... we're talking hardware portability, right? I'm not a huge fan of ATX sized desktops, but if I found a really good solution in x86, I'd be open to Mini ITX or larger. The problem with x86? Prices have almost doubled in my country. The only exceptions being many laptops, as well as a few deals on junky PCs on the Walmart site.

So I'm not saying that ARM is really better than x86. What I am saying is that some of these little ARM machines are pretty efficient, and there are cases where getting something like a x86 Celeron or Pentium, won't very often even truly beat one.

As for my budget, it'd be $500-$600. Though you could really buy two or three machines on that amount if you go ARM. Not saying I want two or three - just saying.

Cool...I'll have a think.
We don't use ARM devices at work, and my home computer is a first gen XPS13. Great little laptop, even though mine is long in the tooth these days.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

If I decide to go x86, there is a weird option that might be good. Atari released a game console awhile back. But it's also basically a PC. They made a PC Mode as part of the software, for users to install Windows or Linux... they recommend doing it through a simple dual-boot system where you can boot both the normal Atari OS on its internal storage, then you have to buy and attach an external hard drive and boot Windows or Linux as the other OS.

The system uses Vega 3 integrated graphics, about an i3 equivalent of CPU, and 8GB dual-channel RAM. And I'm thinking it may save a few bucks over other options. It's also smaller than most Mini ITX PCs. Basically it's $300.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I thought this was going to be a thread about sculpting the biceps and triceps.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I ended up getting Atari's new system, the Atari VCS, which is x86. I haven't tried Atari's PC mode yet to install Linux or Windows. But I am having a bit of fun with the other aspects of it - the games on its shop, etc. It seems like a fast system, either that or its OS is the size of a pea and it's really really fast as a result. Not sure which. It's probably just well performing, or both.