Jestson Nano or Raspberry Pi

@lamichaney

Wow, that's quite a request!  That has to be based on what you plan to do with the SBC in the future.  If it is just general usage to learn about SBCs then the Pi might be better.  If you might be doing some real heavy graphic processing, then the Jetson might be better as it has multiple core GPUs, the Pi has only one GPU.  They are both fine SBCs, so your planned usage should be what determines which one you buy.

Posted by: @lamichaney

Dear All,

Could anyone help me decide to buy Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi? I have watched several Reviews but I could not decide.

I totally agree with codecage.  What you intend to do with it is paramount. 

I've recently purchased two Jetson Nanos.  I love them!  But I need to qualify this. 

First off, I never tried a Rpi4 so I have no way to know what I'm missing out on there.  So this post is not meant as a comparison.

I bought the Jetson Nanos specifically for studying AI.  From everything I've read the Jetson Nano is the better choice for studying AI since this is precisely what NVIDIA designed it for.   There's also a super great course by Paul McWhorter that takes you though setting up and learning AI on the Jetson Nano.  The existence of his course played a role in my initial choice to purchase the Jetson Nano.  Although Chris at Explaining Computers Dot Com also encouraged me when he chose the Jetson Nano as the best SBC for the price. 

Having said this.  I've also heard that the Raspberry Pi 4 actually runs faster as a general desktop computer replacement.  I can't verify this, but this is what I've heard.  The Raspberry Pi is also less expensive and most likely has more support.  Although support for the Jetson Nano is growing rapidly.

I currently have two Jetson Nanos because I found the first one to be very suitable for my purposes. ? 

A word of caution in terms of pricing.  A Jetson Nano can be had for $99.  But what I quickly discovered is that by the time I add on all the accessories (including a 22" HDMI monitor, keyboard, mouse, enclosure, fan, WiFi, and Camera, and a cheap sound system and microphone it ended up costing closer to $350 per set up.

You may not get that carried away, and you could also spend as much on Raspberry Pi accessories too.  But the bottom line is that you'll probably end up adding something more than just the original board.

In any case, it all depends on what you want to use it for.  If you are interested in studying AI I would recommend that Nano, along with Paul McWhorter's course "AI on the Jetson Nano".   He'll get you all set up and running step-by-step.

Please note:  My post is not meant to encourage you to get a Jetson Nano.  As I say, it all depends on what you want the SBC for. All I can say is that I love my Jetson Nanos, but I never owned a Raspberry Pi 4, so I have no clue what I'm missing out on there.

@lamichaney

As @robo-pi says, if you plan on playing around with AI, then the Jetson, along with the McWhorter series of tutorials, would be the way to go.  If you have no interest in AI, then the Pi 4 would probably be the way to go.  I do own both a Pi 4 (actually 2) and a Jetson Nano.  I find both of them to be excellent SBCs.  But if I had no interest in AI, then having just a Pi 4 would have been fine.

Posted by: @codecage

But if I had no interest in AI, then having just a Pi 4 would have been fine.

That's probably the route I would have gone too if my purpose wasn't to learn AI specifically.  After all, the Pi 4 is almost half the cost initially.

I might also note that a lot of AI studies can be done on the Pi 4 as well.  Although I'm not personally aware of any video courses designed for learning AI on a Raspberry Pi that are as detailed as McWhorter's course.  In fact, if any such courses exist I would love to learn about them.  I'd take a look at what they have to offer, and if they are any good I might actually think about buying a Pi 4 just to follow those courses too. ? 

I just currently don't know of any AI courses that focus on the Pi 4 that compare.

I might add that as a general desktop computer substitute I've heard that the Pi 4 is actually better suited for that particular purpose.  I'll probably end up buying a Pi 4 at some point in the future.  Although by the time I get around to it they will probably have already come out with a Pi 5 or 6 or whatever.

I have both, and while I'm using them both for AI, I'm not starting from a premade load of ROS. I'm loading them like you would a desktop, and installing programs on top of that

In that vein, I can say that for AI, the Jetson is much snappier than the Pi4, but, as a desktop, the Pi4 has worlds better support, but, not much support for ROS

The support for the Jetson as a desktop is woefully lacking, but, as @Robo-Pi said, that support is increasing due to the snappiness of the Jetson. If the support structure were there, I'd say go with the Jetson, but, all the really cool kit-type-DIY stuff is made for the Pi, and for the price, if you're not thinking about AI, I'd say go with the Pi

Now, with all that being said, I have been able to install and run ROS on the Pi4, although, achieving that was something akin to building a life size Eiffel Tower, out of LEGO blocks, one at a time, by yourself, blindfolded, while riding a horse, backward

On the other hand, Docker is listed in the software boutique of the Jetson. Now, I haven't tried it yet, but, if it works properly, then you could run pretty much any program that was built for Docker, which increases the usefulness of the Jetson greatly, while at the same time, I also haven't put too much effort into Docker on the Pi, so, 50/50 on that one

Raspbian is what's written for the Pi, which is based on Debian. A special version of Ubuntu was written for the Jetson, which is also based on Debian, so you would think that the programs would be interchangeable, but they're not.

At all.

ROS is coming for the Pi, soon. It's being called for in all the forums, but somebody has to write it. Last night I downloaded a premade image of ROS built into Raspbian for the Pi4, but I haven't gotten 'round to trying it yet. Real life has intruded far too intrusively into my robot factory lately (plus, I ran out of SD cards. I should start buying them in bulk)

I would like to thank everyone who has responded and shared their experiences on these microcomputers. After reading the feedback, I decided to buy RASPBERRY PI 3, in fact I got it delivered and started using it. Thank you all.

I'd get both if you have the money maybe not necessarily for a project alone but for the learning experience. Both boards offer many things to learn on .check out the the latte panda as well there is a lot of power in that little panda! But any of the three will do.good luck 👍😀