Mekotronics R58 is a cost-optimized Rockchip RK3588 SBC going for $169 and up

Mekotronics R58 is a single board computer based on Rockchip RK3588 processor that will also be sold as a mini PC with an enclosure, and offers a cheaper alternative to the company’s R58X embedded mini PC with up to 16GB RAM, dual Gigabit Ethernet, dual SATA, etc…

The R58 comes with fewer ports notably only one Gigabit Ethernet port, one SATA interface, and the RS485/RS232 terminal block and M.2 socket are gone, but it does add an extra HDMI output port, meaning it could support up to four independent displays. It still features up to 16GB RAM and 64GB eMMC flash.

Mekotronics R58 specifications:

SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with four Cortex-A76 cores @ 2.4 GHz, four Cortex-A55 cores @ 1.8 GHz, an Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU, a 6TOPS NPU, 8K 10-bit decoder, 8K encoder
Memory & eMMC flash configurations
- 4GB LPDDR4x + 32GB eMMC flash
- 8GB LPDDR4x + 64GB eMMC flash
- 16GB LPDDR4x + 64GB eMMC flash
Storage expansion – 1x SATA (unpopulated in photo above, but it should be added in the final product)
Video Output
- 2x HDMI 2.1 ports up to 8Kp60
- 1x DisplayPort up to 8Kp60
- DisplayPort via USB-C port
- Up to four independent display
Video Input – 1x HDMI 2.0 port
VPU (in SoC)
- Video Decoder
  - 8Kp60 H.265 VP9, AVS2
  - 8Kp30 H.264 AVC/MVC
  - 4Kp60 AVI
  - 1080p60 MPEG-2, MPEG-1, VC-1, VP8
- Video Encoder – Real-time H.265/H.264 video encoding up to 8Kp30, also usable as a multi-channel encoder in parallel (at lower resolution)
Networking
- 1x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port
- Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 (2T2R) and Bluetooth 5.0 via Ampak AP6275P module plus 2x antenna connectors
USB – 1x USB 3.0 Type-A port, 2x USB 2.0 Type-A ports, 1x USB Type-C port with DisplayPort Alt. mode support
Expansion – 2x 5-pin GPIO headers, 2x serial port headers
Misc – Power switch, recovery button, reset button, RTC + CR2032 battery, IR receiver
Power Supply – 12V DC via power barrel jack
Dimensions – TBD

The company will provide Android 12, Debian 11, and Ubuntu 20.04 OS images for the board, as well as support for Buildroot. I was told that the download page would be ready soon. The new full aluminum enclosure will be ready some times next week.

Mekotronics offers three variants of the board:

4GB LPDDR4X + 32GB eMMC – Pre-order price: $169 US; regular price: $189
8GB LPDDR4X + 64GB eMMC – Pre-order price: $203US; regular price: $223
16GB LPDDR4X + 64GB eMMC Pre-order price: $233 US; regular price: $253

The pre-order price will be valid until May 30 since shipping is expected to start at that time. They don’t have an online store at this time, so you’d need to contact them and express your interest via the product page/website. If you prefer purchasing from Aliexpress, they are waiting for approval from Alibaba to open the store. I’ll add the link once it is online.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.