We have seen the reviews and benchmarks of Raspberry Pi models on this site. Also, we got familiar with some of the top Raspberry Pi alternatives which are giving a tough fight to this tiny, affordable, and super powerful single board computer. A few times ago, Intel launched a new circuit board named as Intel Edison to give competition to the Raspberry Pi circuit board.
Today, I will explain to the Intel Edison board and compare it with the latest Raspberry Pi 3 model. This comparison will help the coders & designers, especially the beginners in the field to choose the better among them both.
Intel Edison Vs Raspberry Pi
The Intel Edison can be a better choice if you want a Raspberry Pi alternative that is both energy and cost efficient. It has a faster RAM, dual-core CPU with x86 speed, and stunning capability of energy efficiency from the brand Intel.
Let’s have a brief look at Intel Edison and Raspberry Pi 3, and then we will see the comparison of Intel Edison Vs Raspberry Pi 3 in a table format.
Intel Edison Review
The Intel Edison development board comes with Atom processor @ 500MHz frequency. This SOM (System on Module) offers real-time computing capabilities. Also, it provides low energy Bluetooth connectivity, WiFi, eMMC storage of 4GB. It comes with the Linux Open Source Project – Yocto as a developing platform.
Though this Intel circuit provides some excellent functionality, it requires a carrier board to take advantage of I/O pins on the board. But, to help the designers, especially the beginners, Intel Edison has predefined choices of carrier boards. The one is larger Arduino Uno Rev3 board and the second is the same board with smaller form factor yet allowing the developer to use every single pin.
Raspberry Pi 3 Review
You can see the full benchmark and reviews of the Raspberry Pi 3 circuit board on the other blog posts on this site. Here, I will give a brief about this development board to have a straight comparison with the Intel Edison.
Since the first Raspberry Pi introduced in 2012, this series of tiny like a credit-card SBCs gained so much popularity all around the world that over 15 Million various Raspberry Pi models are already shipped till today. And the Raspberry Pi 3 is the current and most efficient Pi board from the company.
The Raspberry Pi 3 comes with 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex processor with built-in WiFi & Bluetooth of the latest standards. It has the great connectivity options and compatibility to almost all types of development platforms. This remarkable circuit board is an excellent piece of technology which gives nearly ten times better performance than its predecessor, Raspberry Pi 2 model. You can even make useful and innovative IoT projects cost-effectively.
Though the Raspberry Pi 3 is a cross-platform supported development board and Google has already announced to support this great, tiny, tinkerer’s beloved desktop-like-computer, it still lacks a full-blown compatibility to Android platform.
Intel Edison Vs Raspberry Pi 3
We will have a quick comparison table between both the development boards from the top tech giants Intel and Raspberry Pi.
| Aspect | Intel Edison | Raspberry Pi 3 |
| Type | SBC | SBC |
| Processor | 500MHz Atom Dual Core Processor, 100MHz Quark MCU | 1.2GHz 64-bit ARM Cortex A53 Quad Core Processor |
| RAM | 1GB | 1GB |
| GPIO | 70 pins on 0.4mm mezzanine header | Unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header |
| Storage | 4GB eMMC | On Micro SD Card |
| Bluetooth, WiFi | Yes | Yes |
| Power | 3.3V – 4.5V | 5V |
| Support | Arduino Sketch, Linux Yocto, Python | Official Raspbian OS, Windows 10 IoT Core, Linux Distros, Python, Scratch, etc. |
| Size | 1.4 × 1.0 × 0.15 inches | 3.370 × 2.224 × 0.669 inches |
We can clearly determine that the Intel Edison consumes less power than the Raspberry Pi 3. Also, it has smaller size and weight than this most advanced Raspberry Pi model. Inbuilt storage facility allows you to save the OS and other compatible software on the development board itself.
But one major thing it lacks is the tremendous community support like the Raspberry Pi. The Pi community has the biggest user input data among the Single Board Computers’ field. Even if you are a beginner who is using the Raspberry Pi board for the first time, you can easily connect, use, and tinker with it with the help of the community forums.
Intel Edison Vs Raspberry Pi 3 – Which is better for Beginners?
Though the Intel Edison is entirely compatible and works best with the Arduino IDE, you can even use other coding languages on it. It has lesser power consumption, smaller form factor, and higher I/O pins header than the Pi 3. On the other hand, the Raspberry Pi 3 has the enormous community support and great compatibility features. Also, the Pi 3 is available at almost the half price of the Intel Edison.
So, by taking the consideration of all the aspects, I recommend going for the Raspberry Pi 3, especially if you are a beginner in the electronics field and want to complete your robotics, electronics, or IoT projects in a comfortable & cost-efficient way.
What do you think? Which board will you prefer to use if you are a beginner? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Note: Along with the Galileo and Joule computing models, Intel already discontinued to develop Edison series of the board in the mid of 2017. The idea behind this comparison of Intel Edison and Raspberry Pi was to share the knowledge with the developers and enthusiast in the field. It may help having the better choice among these two development circuit board if they have to make one.
