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Computers · single-board computer

Orange Pi 6 Plus

People recommend it for strong multicore CPU performance, large RAM and fast I/O for an ARM board. Critics agree its driver and kernel support lags, so it suits SBC tinkerers.

Summarized from 57 comments.

People recommend it for strong multicore CPU performance, large RAM and fast I/O for an ARM board. Critics agree its driver and kernel support lags, so it suits SBC tinkerers.

recommend
18
criticize
30
months recommended
5 of 13

Why people love it

  • Strong multicore CPU performance · 4

    this new Orange Pi 6 Plus is much faster than Orange Pi 5 Ultra and anything that came before

    Dec 2025 · comment

    this SoC's CPU is much faster than a mere Intel N150 (especially for multicore use cases)

    Dec 2025 · comment

    the high end of the performance is impressive

    Dec 2025 · comment
  • Good IO and large RAM · 2

    this has much better IO than equivalent RK3588 compute modules / boards though

    Apr 2026 · comment

    Looking back I should have bought many of those just for the 64Gb of RAM

    Apr 2026 · comment
  • Compiles software and future targets · 2

    You can get any software to compile on this SBC.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    It allows you to build for what is coming.

    Dec 2025 · comment
  • Works well in practice · 2

    I can pick it up and take it outside with a USB battery pack and it just works.

    Apr 2026 · comment

    it ended up working surprisingly well

    Dec 2025 · comment

What people warn about

  • Weak driver and kernel support · 6

    Hardware video decoding support for h264 and av1 just landed in 7.0 so it hasn't been a great bleeding edge experience

    Apr 2026 · comment

    Yet another board which will never have proper upstream support because the SoC vendor refused to implement the ARM BSA standard

    Dec 2025 · comment

    NPUs like this tend to have one thing in common: being decorative without drivers and support 9 times out of 10.

    Dec 2025 · comment
  • Vendor software support lacking · 5

    Their approach to software support does leave a lot to be desired.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    they forked UBoot and did not release their modifications

    Apr 2026 · comment

    It's too much of a pain being limited in your distro choice because you are limited to specific builds.

    Apr 2026 · comment
  • Power draw and missing accessories · 4

    this board seems to be using the CIX CPU that has power management issues

    Dec 2025 · comment

    And here I was thinking the Pi 5 which idles at 3W was unreasonably high.

    Dec 2025 · comment

    It is still achieved with an add-on and not integrated into the board.

    Dec 2025 · comment

What hackers pick instead

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 57 comments. Each links to the original.

  1. Hardware video decoding support for h264 and av1 just landed in 7.0 so it hasn't been a great bleeding edge experience

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  2. this new Orange Pi 6 Plus is much faster than Orange Pi 5 Ultra and anything that came before

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  3. this SoC's CPU is much faster than a mere Intel N150 (especially for multicore use cases)

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  4. I can pick it up and take it outside with a USB battery pack and it just works.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  5. this has much better IO than equivalent RK3588 compute modules / boards though

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  6. Looking back I should have bought many of those just for the 64Gb of RAM

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  7. Their approach to software support does leave a lot to be desired.

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  8. they forked UBoot and did not release their modifications

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  9. You can get any software to compile on this SBC.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  10. the high end of the performance is impressive

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  11. It allows you to build for what is coming.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  12. it ended up working surprisingly well

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  13. The orange pi has much better specs.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  14. Yet another board which will never have proper upstream support because the SoC vendor refused to implement the ARM BSA standard

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  15. NPUs like this tend to have one thing in common: being decorative without drivers and support 9 times out of 10.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  16. The problem isn't support for the ARM architecture in general, it's the support for this particular board.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  17. I would never buy one of these things without upstream kernel support for the SoC and a sane bootloader.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  18. It's too much of a pain being limited in your distro choice because you are limited to specific builds.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  19. Stop buying this crap and maybe they will finally start focussing on doing more than shipping support

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  20. e-*ing-waste if you have to wait for manufacturer to provide supported images.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  21. Orange Pi 6 Plus's NPU is not even utilized due to lack of software support

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  22. this board seems to be using the CIX CPU that has power management issues

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  23. And here I was thinking the Pi 5 which idles at 3W was unreasonably high.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  24. It is still achieved with an add-on and not integrated into the board.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  25. The Orange Pi does not even come with a case, power supply or cooler.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  26. Seems this machine is more powerful than it, definitely attractive to me for a physical aarch64 self host runner.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  27. Hdmi output on the vanilla kernel started to work thus year. Hdmi in still doesnt.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  28. I had good experiences with the Orange Pi 5 (only problem was soft reboot hanging)

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  29. Bit of a mixed bag, but doesn't seem catastrophic across the board.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  30. It's pretty hacky for sure but wouldn't classify it as useless.

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  31. there are use-cases where the Orange Pi 6 is the right choice

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  32. GBM/DRM Kodi supports HDR video on the Orange Pi 5 family

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]”

  33. the RK3588 SoC packs an impressive punch for what it is

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “An ARM Homelab Server, or a Minisforum MS-R1 Review”

  34. I am generally happy with my Orange Pi 5

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Every Single Board Computer I Tested in 2025”

  35. $700-900 USD from what I see

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  36. And you'll get standard x86 architecture so you won't have to deal with ARM oddities or fight with non mainline kernels.

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 is a new SBC with 12-core CPU, 45 TOPS of AI power, 24GB RAM”

  37. In trying to become everything, it stopped being the cheap little computer people loved in the first place!

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  38. I couldn't imagine recommending any of these boards to people who aren't already SBC tinkerers.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

  39. it's basically guaranteed that the board will be a useless brick a few years down the line

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “OrangePi 6 Plus Review: The New Frontier for ARM64 SBC Performance”

  40. the OrangePi 6 remains distinctly uncompetitive with SBCs based on low-end intel chips

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “The Orange Pi 6 Plus”

Counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026. How we count · Report a mistake