Are you getting ready to purchase a new Raspberry Pi for your homelab? I’d seriously hold that purchase and consider the Orange Pi 6 instead. With dual 2.5Gb/s Ethernet ports and way more I/O than Raspberry Pi, the Orange Pi 6 is the better choice for homelabbers.
What is the Orange Pi 6?
It’s just a different flavor of Pi
If you’ve never heard of Orange Pi, it’s effectively another version of the RaspberryPi, just made by a different company. However, their ARM processors and single-board computer design are basically where the similarities end.
Raspberry Pi got its start making cheap and affordable single-board computers for the hobby audience. Orange Pi, on the other hand, is a much wider range of SBCs with higher specs that allow you to do a lot more.
However, this pro of having a wider range of options is also a con, in a sense. Whereas Raspberry Pi only has two single-board computer product ranges to focus on, Orange Pi has a lot more, and that means documentation is a lot more fragmented and board-specific.
The community behind Orange Pi is also a lot smaller than Raspberry Pi’s, though that isn’t necessarily a downside. Also, it’s worth noting that Orange Pi changes their board design much more frequently than Raspberry Pi does.
If you’re looking for a single-board computer that packs a punch and don’t mind doing a bit of legwork on your own, then Orange Pi might be the best choice for your homelab. Otherwise, stick with a Raspberry Pi.
But, these simple comparisons are far from the whole story. Really, the choice between
Orange Pi 6 offers ample I/O options
Dual 2.5Gb Ethernet ports are way more useful than you might think
Raspberry Pi has always been focused on compact, yet capable systems. However, they’ve been held back by a non-changing form-factor. Really, the form-factor of the Raspberry Pi hasn’t changed in over a decade. Some components have flipped what side they’re on or been swapped out by newer connectors, but, outside of that, things are largely unchanged.
Orange Pi is doing things a bit differently. The Orange Pi 6 takes the I/O that the Raspberry Pi offers to the next level. For starters, there are two 2.5Gb/s Ethernet ports on the Orange Pi 6.
Before diving into the rest of the crazy I/O options that the Orange Pi 6 has to offer, let’s first unpack how something as simple as a second Ethernet port could be useful in your homelab.
If you’ve ever wanted to run your own firewall or router, then you’ve probably run into the requirement of having to have two Ethernet jacks to run the platforms properly. While this is easy to do with something like a USB Ethernet adapter, it’s always best to do it with onboard hardware.
Plus, Orange Pi didn’t just stick traditional Gigabit Ethernet jacks on the Orange Pi 6—they put 2.5Gb/s Ethernet. This means you can easily use it to handle your multi-gig network natively.
Fantastic Ethernet support is far from the only benefit that the Orange Pi 6 has to offer. Where the Raspberry Pi 5 requires an add-on HAT to use NVMe drives, the Orange Pi 6 has two M.2 2280 (full-size) NVMe SSD slots on its underside, as well as a M.2 2230 KEY-E slot for an upgradable wireless card.
On top of those features, there are also two camera inputs, a microSD card slot, both HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, dual USB-A 3.0, USB-C, two more USB-A 2.0 ports, and so much more.
The I/O options on the Orange Pi 6 are so much better than the Raspberry Pi, it’s not even a fair comparison. The Orange Pi 6 takes everything that the Raspberry Pi does with multiple additional HATs and packs it all into one sleek package.
The Raspberry Pi might be the default choice, but it’s not always the best one
Raspberry Pi is mainstream but way more limited
For the longest time, the Raspberry Pi has been the gold standard for single-board computers. The Orange Pi is changing that, though. It has way better hardware, a more powerful processor, and prettty much more of everything.
I specifically love that Orange Pi ships with the ability to run dual NVMe dives without any additional hardware, and that you can easily upgrade the WLAN chip when new standards come out.
Add to that the fact that the Orange Pi 6’s chip is capable of 45 TOPS for AI computing out of the box, and it comes in 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB LPDDR5 flavors, and you have yourself a homelab powerhouse, ready to run whatever you throw at it.
If you’ve only looked at Raspberry Pi before, consider the alternatives before your next purchase
It’s easy to just go with the tried and true option, but, sometimes, it’s better to pick up the unique outliers. Orange Pi SBCs might not be the easiest to source, but they definitely have a lot more to offer than traditional Raspberry Pi systems.
From additional I/O to more power and extra capabilities, if you’re looking for a high-end single-board computer to run your homelab, the Orange Pi might be your best option.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
