NanoPi R3S official as new affordable single-board computer with low launch tag and optional metal enclosure

Over six months have passed since FriendlyElec released the NanoPi R2S Plus (curr. $54.99 on Amazon). To recap, FriendlyElec bases the NanoPi R2S Plus around a Rockchip RK3328 chipset and 1 GB of DDR4 RAM, as well as an M.2 E-Key, two Gigabit Ethernet connections and a pair of USB ports. For reference, the company managed to include all these components on a 58 x 58 mm board.

Now, it has decided to offer up the NanoPi R3S, which comes in at a mere 1 mm shorter on both sides (57 x 57 mm) than FriendlyElec's previous single-board computer (SBC). Moreover, the R3S comes with a Rockchip RK3566, a more powerful option that packs four ARM Cortex-A55 CPU cores, a Mali-G52 MP2 GPU and an AI accelerator that outputs at up to 0.8 TOPS. Furthermore, FriendlyElec offers the NanoPi R3S with 2 GB of LPDDR4X RAM as another upgrade over the NanoPi R2S Plus.

The NanoPi R3S currently starts at $30 with RAM but no storage through FriendlyElec's website. Alternatively, FriendlyElec offers the SBC with 32 GB of eMMC flash storage and a metal case for an additional $5 apiece. For context, the NanoPi R3S comes with the following ports:

• 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports (1x RTL8211F LAN, 1x RTL8111H WAN)
• 1x MicroSD card reader
• 1x MIPI-DSI connector
• 1x RTC connector
• 1x UART Debug connector
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
• 1x USB Type-C (for data and 5V/2A power input)