Review: ODROID-N2+ 2GB and 4GB Models

I have owed a 4GB version of this SBC for seven days now and I have to say that I am very impressed. It's raw computing power outmatches everything else and the market and it's versatility is remarkable. You can run Android, Arch, Armbian, CoreELEC, Debian, Gentoo, and well, the list goes on. You can boot it from a microSD card, eMMC, and thanks to the built-in SPI flash memory and Petitboot, you can boot it from the network. You can put your root file system on your NAS box. You can set up a dual boot, triple boot, whatever.

I installed Ubuntu 20.04 and set up an LXD container. It has been crunching numbers with BOINC for World Community Grid. It finishes Open Pandemics tasks in 5.5 to 7 hours. After it has been running at full load for a few minutes the heat sink does get warm (I measured it's temp at over 100F) so you might want to order a fan if you plan to keep it under under heavy load.

Video quality is great in LineageOS with Google Play Movies. I haven't tried gaming or OpenCL computing yet.

As with anything made by Hardkernel, you should read the wiki and the forums before you buy so you have a good idea of where to start. The staff of Hardkernel read and reply to posts in the forums every day and will answer your questions before you buy.

I'm running my N2+ with Manjaro KDE Plasma as a desktop system. I mainly use it for browsing and standard desktop tasks. I'm currently using Firefox 74.0 64-bit as my main browser, and it works well for everything I've thrown at it. Manjaro KDE Plasma looks really nice with the dark theme.

I'm running the 2GB version of the N2+ with 2GB swap configured running off a 32GB eMMC, and it operates smoothly and is very reliable. I keep the system on 24/7 and it has been running non-stop since I finished configuring it weeks ago. I usually have 4 Firefox windows with a total of 8 tabs running with no problems.

I have another 2GB N2+ at home running my 55 inch 4K TV, also running off an eMMC. On that one, I'm running Android 9, and the family uses it with the Rii K22 keyboard sold on ameriDroid to watch Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, HDHomeRun, and more, and they use other Android apps to listen to music. In addition, it can also be used as a large browser that the whole family can sit around while we dream about future vacations, etc. We also use it with a USB webcam for Zoom meetings. That system is also very reliable and smooth.