The “Raspberry Pi” with an Intel processor
The component miniaturization processes have not only allowed us to have increasingly powerful and smaller devices such as mobile phones, but also small development boards such as the popular Raspberry Pi 4, Arudino, etc. Of course, the interesting thing comes when you can get authentic mini PCs that are similar in size to those plates that fit in the palm of your hand. An example, this mini PC with Intel Core 11 Gen processor.
With the appearance of a Raspberry Pi the Aaeon Peak-TGU4 It is a mini PC with surprising performance considering its dimensions. To begin with, there is the issue of the processor, an 11th generation Intel Core that can range from the i3 version to the i5 or even Celeron.
These CPUs include their own integrated graphics and while they will not offer the performance of a dedicated GPU such as those from AMD or NVIDIA, they will be more than enough to perform a good number of day-to-day tasks. In addition to being able to manage a 4K video output through an HDMI 2.0b connector.
Along with that CPU and GPU data, the Aaeon mini PC integrates LPDDR4X RAM configurations that can reach up to 32 GB. And if all this were not enough, it also includes two M.2 connections with support for PCI 4.0. This allows you to connect SSD storage units as well as other extras that make the value and possibilities of this board increase significantly.
To finish off the proposal, it also offers two ethernet connections (one of them works at 2.5Gb speed and the second at 1Gb), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 and four USB 2.0, input and output of audio as well as serial port and 8 Bit DIO.
That is to say, the Aaeon mini PC is quite complete and can give a lot of play in projects of all kinds or when building work teams with a series of very specific requirements, especially in space issues. Although there are already similar solutions such as the Intel NUC that for years have offered very capable PCs for office automation tasks and the like with a very attractive size and price.
The price of the Pico-TGU4
When we talked about the resemblance of this Aaeon mini PC to a Raspberry Pi, we did so from the point of view of size and design, because in the rest of the sections this Pico-TGU4 is superior. It is a much more powerful equipment and also more expensive.
The price of the Pico-TGU4 is between $ 600 and $ 900 depending on the configuration you choose. And yes, it is true that it is for a very specific audience that does not mind investing that amount of money in something of this type. To mount a gaming PC or workstation it is probably not, because for a little more space that the tower occupies with the rest of the components inside, nothing will happen to you. Although this could be a very striking mini PC for research tasks.
