OrangePi 6 Plus Review

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Performance and Power Use

  • Idle power draw (~15 W) is widely criticized as excessive for an SBC, especially compared to:
    • Raspberry Pi 5 (~3 W idle),
    • Intel N100/N150 mini-PCs (typically 5–8 W idle),
    • Older x86 thin clients (~5–10 W total).
  • Single-core performance appears roughly comparable to Intel N150; multi-core performance of the 12-core ARM SoC is substantially higher.
  • Some note that many home workloads (streaming, routing, file serving, retro emulation) are more sensitive to single-thread performance than many cores.
  • Others give counterexamples where heavy multithreaded tasks (e.g., Plex analysis) fully use many cores.

ARM SBCs vs x86 Mini PCs

  • Many argue that at ~$200, x86 mini-PCs (N100/N150/N300, small Ryzen systems) are a better deal:
    • Include case, PSU, storage, cooling.
    • Much better OS and driver ecosystem; “just install a mainline distro.”
  • Repeated N150/N300 recommendations are defended as pragmatic, not shilling: performance-per-watt is strong and GPU/drivers are mature.
  • Some ARM users report smooth experiences on Rockchip-based boards and ARM VPSs, claiming they “just work” for common server workloads.

Software Support, Standards, and E-Waste

  • Core complaint: non-mainlined kernels and board-specific hacks mean:
    • Stale kernels, abandoned vendor images, fragile Google Drive downloads.
    • Per-board device trees instead of standardized ACPI/UEFI.
  • Several call such boards “e-waste” unless drivers are upstreamed; some propose avoiding any SBC without mainline support.
  • ARM SystemReady/UEFI is seen as the path forward; a few boards (Pine64, Radxa, some Pi 4 setups) are cited as partial successes.
  • CIX is reported to be working on kernel patches, but GPU/NPU support is still missing in mainline.

NPU and AI Acceleration

  • 30 TOPS NPU is viewed skeptically:
    • Often requires proprietary SDKs (e.g., NeuralONE) and custom stacks.
    • RAM bandwidth/size limitations make such NPUs marginal for LLMs; CPU often beats them in practice.
    • Common complaint that NPUs are “decorative” without robust, open drivers.

Use Cases and Positioning of ARM SBCs

  • Some see the “sweet spot” of ARM SBCs as cheap, low-power, headless IoT/edge devices with GPIO, not near-desktop machines.
  • Others appreciate ARM diversity (and dislike x86 dominance) and use ARM boards successfully in home labs.
  • Multiple commenters say they’ve been burned by OrangePi (and similar) before and won’t buy again without clear, long-term, mainline support.