Quote:
Originally Posted by indes
|
Depends what you want to do with it.
Hardware wise, the Kangaroo is better in almost every category. Faster processor, more and faster RAM, better graphics card, built in storage, AC wireless (compared to N on the Pi 3), built in battery, and a USB 3.0 port (the Pi 3 only has USB 2.0 ports). The Pi 3 has a built in 10/100 Ethernet jack that shares bandwidth with it's USB ports (the Kangaroo doesn't have any wired Ethernet ports but that may be coming in future docks). Both have Bluetooth 4.1.
If you want to get into robotics or communicating with external electronics like sensors, cameras, actuators, etc; the Kangaroo loses to the Pi. General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins, camera connector, and touch screen display connector on the Pi make it the clear winner in that regard. Keep in mind all extra electronics will cost extra.
The base version of Kangaroo can run and comes with a full version of Windows 10. The Raspberry Pi 3 can only run Windows 10 IOT, which is basically a subset of Windows and won't run everything that a full version of Windows will. My understanding is that Windows IOT for the Pi is meant more as a development platform than actually being used as an everyday operating system.
If you want to run linux based environments, then maybe Pi 3 is the better choice (especially if you are a Linux newbie). While the Kangaroo has been confirmed to run some variants of linux (e.g. Ubuntu), there isn't a large community for it and driver support for hardware may lead to some quirkiness in how it supports linux. The Pi 3 has custom versions of Linux made specifically for its hardware with a large community so any problems that arise OS wise should be fixed in short order or have answers on the internet. I believe the finger print scanner on the Kangaroo doesn't work in any version of linux yet.
In terms of cost, while they advertise the Pi as $35 USD, it is difficult to get it in Canada for that low. It will probably at least cost $60 CAD for just the board including shipping. Then you need to figure in the cost of the power supply (recommended 5.1v 2.5 amps but you might get away lower than that) and at least a 8gb micro sd card. That is the bare minimum you need to run a Pi 3 (well obviously you need a keyboard/mouse and HDMI display but you need those using a Kangaroo too) but some people already have those things from other uses. Also advisable to invest in a case to house the Pi, which will cost extra (can get cheap ones on ebay, but the higher end ones can sell for $20-$30). Some places offer kits where you can get the board, power supply, sd card, case and some other goodies (e.g. heat sink), but you will probably spend $80-$100 if you need to buy everything.
In comparison you can get the Kangaroo for $140 CAD shipped and that includes storage, case, power supply, and a full Windows Home license.
** One other thing to consider with the Kangaroo throttles a lot. It has no active cooling, so the way it manages the processor getting very hot, is to lower the processor speed until the temperature gets back to reasonable. This can be very annoying to most people and keep the hardware from reaching it's full potential. The Raspberry Pi 3 had some reported heat issues but they appear to be overblown.