Banana Pi BPI-P2 Pro is Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 SBC for headless applications with a PoE-capable Ethernet port, WiFi 5, a USB port, an audio jack, and two GPIO headers for expansion.
You may think the Banana Pi guys have gone crazy by calling such entry-level level SBC “Pro”, but that’s because the company previously released the BPI-P2 Zero and BPI-P2 Maker single board computers based on Allwinner H2+ quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, so the BPI-P2 Pro is indeed an improvement albeit with some caveats.
Banana Pi BPI-P2 Pro specifications:
- SoC – Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor @ up to 1.3 GHz with built-in VAD (Voice Activity Detector)
- System Memory – 2GB LPDDR2 SDRAM [Update: According to Rockchip RK3308 specifications, the maximum memory capacity is 512MB, so Banana Pi may have meant 2 Gbit instead, meaning 256MB of RAM].
- Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot
- Video Output – N/A
- Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack
- Connectivity
- 10/100M Ethernet RJ45 port with optional 802.3af PoE support
- Dual-band WiFi 5 & Bluetooth 4.1 via Ampak AP6255 module and external antenna
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 OTG port
- Expansion
- 40-pin GPIO header with UART, SPI, I2C, etc…
- 12-pin header (not sure what for, maybe audio)
- Misc – Reset and recovery keys, RGB LED, Power LED
- Power Supply
- 5V/2A via USB Type-C port
- Power-over-Ethernet (PoE)
- Dimensions – 65 x 52.5mm
The main difference against the earlier Banana Pi BPI-P2 Zero/Maker board is that the Rockchip RK3308 processor, and by extension the BPI-P2 Pro board, lacks a display interface and multimedia capabilities such as a GPU or a video decoder/encoder. But the 64-bit Arm processor will be faster and the board comes with 2GB RAM instead of just 512MB, and support the faster WiFi 5 standard.
The board should run Linux and be suitable for smart audio applications, but at this time, we have limited information, and sometimes incorrect or incomplete details, in the Wiki. It’s not the first such small board based on Rockchip RK3308, as Radxa launched the Rock Pi S SBC in 2019 with a similar set of features, albeit less RAM (256 to 512MB), and it runs Debian or Ubuntu Linux operating system officially and third-party images are available from Armbian and others.
The Banana Pi BPI-P2 Pro board is selling for $31.58 plus shipping. For reference, the Rock Pi S sells for $37.90 with an 8GB flash, 512MB RAM, and WiFi/Bluetooth, but no PoE, and the Banana Pi BPI-P2 Maker currently sells for $17 without storage, WiFi, and PoE.
Update: This post was initially published on March 3, 2023, and updated in August 14 following the launch on Aliexpress
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.
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Original Banaware? Better stay far away from it!
No GigE, no HDMI, and then $45-$50?
I wonder what target usage this board has.
I guess it was made for a specific customer and they’re just trying to sell it to more customers “just in case it happens to work”. But I agree that there’s hardly a common use case, particularly at this price!
People who buy products based on this might not even know there is a Banana Pi inside.
RickPiS without POE,storage, wifi cost 15.99 USD. They are similar.
Can we please be clear on whether the various boards promising PoE either support it directly out of the box with the existing Ethernet port visible in all the photos, or if it’s some random vapourware extension that needs soldering / wiring / adaptors etc.
Usually, they sell it with or without the PoE expansion module. If the PoE module is installed, it’s still using the RJ45 port on the SBC for power.
3308 is hardware-locked to 512MB maximum. Banana Pi must have specified RAM in Gbits, meaning that you actually get 256MB on this board, which is still decent for these applications.
I missed that. Thanks. I’ve updated the post to mention it’s probably 256MB RAM only and adjusted the estimated board’s price too.