Shenzhen Xunlong opened reservations and priced Orange Pi 5, an ARM-based mini-PC that aims to rival the Raspberry Pi 4 and surpass it in many ways. It is therefore a more expensive product, but within its category, the price is at least relatively limited.

As we said before, the Orange Pi 5 is an ARM-based mini-PC that, according to its file on the official website of the product line, implements the SoC Rockchip RK3588S Octa-core 64-bit which works at a frequency of 2.4 GHz and is able to support video playback up to 8K resolution thanks to the graphics accelerator Mali-G610 MP4 (don’t forget that the graphics accelerator goes inside the package).

At the memory level, the Orange Pi 5 can be purchased with configurations that include 4, 8, 16 or 32 gigabytes of LPDDR4X RAMso it opens the door not only to use it as a toy or to build different types of devices with it, but also to use it as a pretty capable server with the power savings it provides over a classic x86 machine.

Other features are a 26-pin header connector, and RJ45 for Gigabit EthernetHDMI connector, a 3.5mm jack connector for audio, integrated microphone, two 4-lane MIPI DSI connectors capable of supporting 4K at 60 frames per second, M.2 2242 slot for NVMe SSD, additional microSD slot, USB 3.1 Type-C for power and DisplayPort 1.4 support, one USB 3.0 Type -A, two USB 2.0 Type-A and one DC power connector.

At the operating system level officially supports OrangePi OS, Android 12 and Debian 11, while the former failed to pay for understandable reasons. The dimensions of the mini-PC are 100 mm in length and 62 mm in width, and the basic model weighs 46 grams.

The base model Orange Pi 5 with 4 GB of RAM can be reserved on AliExpress at a price of 71.42 euros. The buyer can find other configurations and packages that put the price above 100 euros, but here we enter the field of personal preferences.