ASUS unveiled the Tinker Board 2 and Tinker Board 2S, its most powerful single-board computer (SBC), designed to challenge the Raspberry Pi. The Tinker Board 2 and Tinker Board 2S feature a Rockchip RK3399 processor and up to 4 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM, along with increased USB connectivity — including one USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C port and three USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports.

The only thing distinguishing the Tinker Board 2S from the Tinker Board 2 is its 16 GB of onboard eMMC flash storage. The standard Tinker Board 2 relies on a microSD card reader instead, which the Tinker Board 2S also includes. All other specifications are identical.

Underpinning both SBCs is a Rockchip RK3399 processor with two ARM Cortex-A72 cores, four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, and an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU. Buyers can choose between 2 GB or 4 GB of dual-channel LPDDR4 memory.

Here is a list of the available I/O:

• 1× HDMI 2.0
• 1× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (OTG & DisplayPort 1.2)
• 3× USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
• 1× 22-pin MIPI DSI
• 1× 15-pin MIPI CSI-2
• 1× RJ-45 Gigabit LAN
• 1× Wi-Fi 802.11ac & Bluetooth 5.0
• 1× 40-pin GPIO header
• 1× DC fan header
• 1× RTC battery header
• 1× power and recovery headers
• 1× 12 V – 19 V DC-in barrel connector

Now here’s the real question: will ASUS face the same issue of limited long-term support? One reason the Raspberry Pi continues to dominate is the size and strength of its community and ecosystem.

Measuring 85 mm × 56 mm, the boards support Debian 9, while ASUS planned Android 10 support by Q1 2021. According to ASUS, the Tinker Board 2 series should deliver up to 1.5× the performance of the original Tinker Board. Pricing and exact release dates were not confirmed at the time, though availability was expected around Q1 2021.

Although the Tinker Board 2 was not available at the time of this post (November 2020), you can use this Tinker Board 2 link to check current availability on Amazon.