The new version of the hugely famous single board computer, the Raspberry Pi or the RBPi as it is commonly known, brings many improvements to its users. The RBPi version 2, Model B has improved on the CPU, added RAM, more USB ports and GPIO pins. However, the increasing popularity of the RBPi has sparked off a trend with several other manufacturers chipping in to make available SBCs with features similar to and sometimes surpassing those of the RBPi. The Chinese manufacturer LeMaker is one such manufacturer producing a competing product called the Banana Pi.

The Banana Pi manufacturer, LeMaker, took pains to ensure compatibility with the RBPi while improving on the performance. That made LeMaker replace the CPU with a superior one operating on dual cores clocked at 1GHz. That is, until the manufacturers of the RBPi responded with a V2, Model B that has a CPU with four cores firing away at 900MHz.

That made the difference in performance more dependent on the software running on the individual SBCs. The video processor in the new RBPi is somewhat more advanced as compared to the Mali GPU in the Banana Pi. Therefore, those using HDMI out for playback or media streaming will find the RBPi a better choice.

On the other hand, people requiring access to a large storage for consistent read and write, will find the Banana Pi more convenient. The Banana Pi has a SATA port that allows connecting a large hard drive, offering the faster and more permanent options of a mass storage device. Compare this to the MicroSD storage and USB interface that the RBPi relies on for interfacing to memory devices.

Although both devices have Ethernet ports built-in for wired network connectivity, the Banana Pi has gigabit capability. However, that does not tip the scales against the RBPi much, since many devices are yet to have gigabit support anyway. The Pro version of the Banana Pi, however, can simplify a lot of projects with its built-in Wi-Fi and 802.11n support. While with the RBPi, you need to plug in a separate Wi-Fi module, which will tie up one of its USB ports.

The design concept of the RBPi centers on its ease of use and its budget-friendliness. That has made it such an extremely popular entity in the maker community. A large support base of users enforces the usefulness of the device, providing it with a wealth of information on creating software, hardware and innumerable tutorials built specifically for the RBPi. Although such resources do exist for the Banana Pi as well, they are neither as common nor so comprehensible. Moreover, the Banana Pi is somewhat harder to set up when compared to the RBPi setup.

For those planning to use a Banana Pi as a drop-in replacement for the RBPi, there is disappointment in store. Dimensionally, as the Banana Pi is larger than the RBPi, replacement entails a bigger case or an expanded slot for the Banana Pi. A bigger worry is the placement of the CPU, which, for the Banana Pi, is on the bottom side of its board rather than on the top. That may mean additional arrangements for heat removal, as the CPU is the biggest heat generator in any SBC.