How would you like a sneak peak at the brand new NVIDIA Jetson Nano 2GB Developer Kit? I have the hook up for you. NVIDIA sent one out to me as part of their NGCA social media program prior to today’s (October 5th) launch.
Let’s get right to the details…
We’ll start with the price… you can order a Nano 2GB Developer Kit for $59. This is designed for developers, STEM opportunities, and IOT applications. All of these are price sensitive areas that also need GPU power for AI based opportunities.
So what do you get for $59? You get a lot. This has many of the same features that its big brother the Jetson Nano has.
There are 4 big differences between the the Nano and the Nano 2GB. They are:
- The Nano 2GB ships with 2GB of RAM, hence the name
- It comes with a wireless adapter! (More on this later)
- There are fewer ports on the Nano 2GB
- It has a USB-C connector to provide a larger power draw
There are also so minor changes, we’ll dig into both the major enhancements and some of the minor changes with the Jetson Nanon 2GB.
Let’s start with the memory in the Nano 2GB. This isn’t as much as it’s older brother. In my opinion this is actually is better, especially for STEM and IOT applications. It’s the ideal size for getting started with AI where you don’t have large data sets and are probably using a pre-trained model. All of this really reduces the need for the extra memory and keeps the price reasonable.
Speaking of reasonable… The Nano 2GB comes with a wireless adapter, which is awesome. For those who do development or are doing STEM really need wireless capabilities. In some IOT instances wireless is also a requirement. In my mind this is a god send.
Now it should be noted that in some regions the Nano 2GB won’t come with a wireless adapter. For those regions the price is reduced to reflect the difference of the wireless adapter. Talking with the program team they are working on an adapter that will work for these other regions that don’t currently have one.
The Nano 2GB Developer Kit, does not have a display port. And for this I am thrilled!!! I no longer need to worry about youth who are using them for STEM projects trying to force HDMI cables into the display port. This is one of my favorite physical enhancements to the Nano 2GB.
Additionally there is only a single USB3 port on the Nano 2GB. This makes good sense to me. With my development and STEM work (and I assume for others) I very rarely connect a single device that needs USB3 speeds, much less 3 or 4. Wifi, keyboard, mouse, and maybe external storage are my typical USB connections.
The last exciting physical aspect that stands out for me is, with the Nano 2GB you don’t need a special barrel style power supply when you need full power. The Nano 2GB uses a USB-C connector for power. For me this is an ideal enhancement to the Developer Kit.
With a USB-C connector it makes it so much easier to find power to run the Jetson Nano 2GB, especially when working with youth on STEM projects. Think about it… if you have an Android cell phone, what is the power connector? If your phone is newer than 2 years old its probably a USB-C charger… That means you’ve got a power supply for the Nano 2GB.
There are also some other physical attributes that are worth mentioning with the Nano 2GB. According to the documentation, in some regions there are not a set of pins for a cooling fan. The Nano 2GB I received did not have pins for a fan. I don’t expect I will get the Nano 2GB that warm and I probably will not put it in a case.
NVIDIA has also moved the control pins, like power, reset, etc. to under the processor on the developer kit board. They are in a single row which. You can see this in the photo along with what each pin is for.
The GPIO pins are identical to the Jetson Nano. You can see the pin out in the photo.
You can find details on the Jetson Nano 2GB on the Nano 2GB product page.
It’s time to wrap up this post. Today NVIDIA announced the Jetson Nano 2GB Developer Kit. This is awesome for developers, STEM learners, and IOT applications. It has amazing power in a small package with an equally small price tag. It only costs $59, and can be pre-ordered today from the NVIDIA store.
May your servers keep running and your data center always be chilled.
