Now that the Raspberry Pi has released a $5 computer, the debate has been heated by the added fuel to the fire.
 
Until the Raspberry Foundation created the Raspberry Pi in 2012, there were only two or three small system boards for developers to create ides from. But they were more expensive than the average PC and they were not that small; about half the size of a Mini ATX motherboard.
 
Then Raspberry Foundation created the Raspberry Pi - a credit card sized computer with a respectable amount of RAM, some basic I/O and can run from a low power source, all for under $50. If it were a car, while Mercedes and others made the automobiles, they were only for the rich and well to do; Ford created the Model T for the average man to own and use. The Raspberry Pi is the Model T of the Small Computer System Boards. It is the standard that others use and add on to to make theirs better. That is what this is about, and this discussion has been out since Commodore released the Vic-20 for under $500 and other computer makers were shaken to the core on a home computer being under $500. The world has not been the same since.
 
Make throws in its hat into this fire, comparing the recently released $9 C.H.I.P. computer vs the $5 Raspberry Pi:0 computer. Which is better?
http://makezine.com/2015/11/28/chip-vs-pi-zero/

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This will be the first, as other small system boards will be compared like in past postings of individual systems like the Banana Pi and the Orange Pi that I put up in the past.

It's like the the Banana Pi vs. the Raspberry Pi Model B+ argument at the Banana Pi forum (I think I posted a link here). Of course the Banana Pi won but look at the obvious differences:

• B-Pi - Dual Core CPU @ !GHz to the R-Pi Single Core CPU @ 700MHz
  
• B-Pi - !000-Ethernet to the R-Pi 100-Ethernet
  
• B-Pi - 1GB of RAM to the R-Pi 512MB of RAM
  

and then the addons the B-Pi does not have over the R-Pi

• B-Pi - SATA Drive interface
  
• B-Pi - IR-Remote Module
  
• B-Pi - On/Off & Reset Switches (though the R-Pi has blank points where these can go, there are no switches there. You can put them in however)
  

But at $25 more to the price of the R-Pi, is the Banana Pi worth it? Some say yes, others say no.

So true. On a friend's FB post about the R-Pi:0 (I think it was the Amateur Radio FB Page), I tooted that the R-Pi was the Model T of all these boards. "Just the Basics." And it is.
 
The problem I see is that many try to copy and then improve on it - like the Banana Pi, and the Orange Pi are R-Pi OS and Software compatible. Even the Beagle Bone Black is about 85% Software compatible to the R-Pi. Why don't anyone make their own system? It's the days of the IBM PC, everyone copied it! Or years before - So many Apple II Clones floating about even though Apple tried to sue companies who copied their Apple IIs (and failed!).
 
But in truth, all the other boards outclass the R-Pi in many ways but that is like comparing a Model T to a Ford F150.
 
The thing is price. In this case with the Chip, the price is just a few dollars more than the R-Pi:0. Th R-Pi:0 is priced at $5 for a single unit, the Chip $9. But by the time it comes to the USA, I can definitely say that R-Pi:0 wont be. AdaFruit is selling them for $18 for a pair of them in a box kit. I seen ebay already selling them for $15 for 1. I don't know that Tinkersphere has them for yet, but I will by the end of the week. I know Tinkersphere sells other R-Pi's for $5 more than the given price because they get them shipped directly from the UK but they buy in bulk so they should not be so expensive. But along those lines that makes the R-Pi:0 around $10. The Chip, made in the USA, wont have that high in shipping costs, so, give it $12. In that price range alone, the Chip beats the R-Pi:0 hands down.

I do not know. If it uses the Arm 7, 11, 20 or 10, or as the Chinese makers refer the A20 series "AllWinner" chips and has 1GB of RAM it can run Android. I know the Banana Pi runs Android off the bat. The R-Pi2 does too but you need to modify one of the Boot Config Files (its on the Raspberry Pi .org forum). The High End Orange Pi can run it too. But I do not know what chip the CHIP uses.
 
Funny, I have an old Irdis(?) Chinese Tablet with a 10in screen I got from ebay for $20. It gives me problems with the touch screen (works better with a pen) so I took it apart. Guess what I found inside? A modified Banana Pi with some added circuitry and minus the SATA Drive Port. Putting the Banana Pi to this board side by side, I swear - it was the same board!