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Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry vs Raspberry Pi 400

Researched, not hands-on tested.How we review ›

all judged against single-board computers at a similar price

The Raspberry Pi 400 scores 7.2/10 overall, ahead of the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry at 4.4/10.

The Raspberry Pi 400 leads on software support, performance, I/O and networking and value.

They score the same on storage.

The biggest difference is software support, where the Raspberry Pi 400 scores 10/10 to the Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry's 5/10.

Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry

Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry

4.4/10verdict: skip

The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry is for hobbyists who want a small quad-core board with gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and a Raspberry Pi 3-style GPIO header. It suits light single-purpose jobs such as a sensor hub, a small network service or a GPIO project. It is less suited to anyone who needs more than 1GB of RAM, USB 3 or NVMe storage.

Typically about £46.99 in the UK when we researched itCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)

Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Details

Raspberry Pi 400

Raspberry Pi 400

7.2/10verdict: buy

The Raspberry Pi 400 is for anyone who wants a complete, compact Raspberry Pi desktop with the keyboard built in and no assembly. It suits learners, classrooms and homelabbers who want a small terminal or light desktop machine running Raspberry Pi OS. It is a weaker fit for anyone who needs easy GPIO access or fast internal storage.

Typically about £57.60 in the UK when we researched itCheck price at Amazon UK (opens in a new tab, affiliate link)

Affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Details

Scores, criterion by criterion

CriterionWeightBanana Pi BPI-M2 BerryRaspberry Pi 400
Software support30%5/1010/10
Performance25%3/106/10
Storage15%4/104/10
I/O and networking15%6/107/10
Value15%4/107/10
Overall4.4/107.2/10

Specifications

SpecBanana Pi BPI-M2 BerryRaspberry Pi 400
Processor (SoC)Allwinner A40i/R40/V40; quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU; dual-core Mali-400 MP2 GPU at 500MHzBroadcom BCM2711, quad-core Cortex-A72 64-bit, 1.8 GHz
Memory1GB DDR3 at 733MHz, shared with GPU4GB LPDDR4-3200
Storage optionsMicroSD (TF) slot; SATA supported; no onboard eMMC; no M.2 or NVMe listedMicroSD card slot; no eMMC, SSD or M.2 slot
Networking10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet (Realtek RTL8211E/D); WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (AP6212 module); Bluetooth 4.0Gigabit Ethernet; dual-band 2.4/5 GHz 802.11b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 5.0 and BLE
GPIO40-pin header with 28 GPIO; UART, I2C, SPI, PWM and I2S on some pins; matches Raspberry Pi 3 header40-pin horizontal GPIO header on the rear of the case
Video outputsHDMI V1.4 TV-out; 4-lane MIPI DSI or RGB/LVDS panel; H.264 decode up to 1080p602 × micro HDMI ports, up to 4Kp60; H.265 4Kp60 decode, H.264 1080p60 decode, OpenGL ES 3.1, Vulkan 1.0
Power input5V/2A via micro USB; no 3.7V battery support5V DC via USB Type-C power input

Strengths and weaknesses

Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry

  • + Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 on board
  • + 40-pin header matches Raspberry Pi 3
  • + SATA supported alongside microSD
  • − Only 1GB RAM, shared with the GPU
  • − USB 2.0 only, no USB 3
  • − No eMMC, M.2 or NVMe

Skip it if:

  • Buyers who need more than 1GB of RAM for containers or VMs
  • Anyone who wants USB 3 or NVMe storage
  • Projects that need direct 3.7V battery power
Read the full Banana Pi BPI-M2 Berry review ›

Raspberry Pi 400

  • + Keyboard and computer in one compact case
  • + Raspberry Pi OS preinstalled on the SD card
  • + Gigabit Ethernet and two USB 3.0 ports
  • − microSD only, with no M.2 or eMMC
  • − GPIO access is awkward and needs an adapter
  • − Keyboard feels cheap and spongy to some owners

Skip it if:

  • Buyers who want M.2, SSD or eMMC storage on the board.
  • Makers who will use the GPIO header often and want easy access.
  • Anyone who wants a separate bare board to mount in their own case.
Read the full Raspberry Pi 400 review ›

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