Updated April 7, 2023
Difference Between Arduino Nano vs Mini
The following article provides an outline for Arduino Nano vs Mini. The Arduino Nano is the type of Arduino boards that is used for the electronics related projects. The Arduino Nano boards uses the ATmega328 processor and controls the overall mechanism of boards. The board has 14 digital input and output pin in which 8 are used as analog input. The Arduino Mini is another type of Arduino board that comes up with the ATmega328 microcontroller that fits in the board. There are total 14 digital input and output pins in which 8 are used as analog input and 6 pins are used PWM.
Head to Head Comparison Between Arduino Nano vs Mini (Infographics)
Below are the top 9 differences between Arduino Nano and Mini:
Key Difference Between Arduino Nano vs Mini
Let us discuss some of the major key differences between Arduino Nano and Mini:
- The one of the major differences between Arduino Nano board and Arduino Mini board that can be considered is the use of the board. When there is requirement of selecting the board for small projects the Arduino Mini board prefers over Arduino Nano board as the size of Arduino Mini board is smaller compare to Arduino Nano board.
- The other difference between Arduino Nano board and Arduino Mini board that can be considered is support of the USB jack in board. In the Arduino Nano board there is one mini USB port fit in it and can use to provide power supply to the board. While on other hand, there is no in-built support of USB port in Arduino Mini board and the board need to use external USB adapter to connect other devices to the board.
- The another difference between two board is the compatibility factor. When the Arduino boards design the main factor that need to be considered as compatibility with other device. The Arduino Mini board has greater compatibility compared to Arduino Nano board. It is mainly because of small size of The Arduino Mini board. The size of Arduino board is much smaller than Arduino Nano board.
- The other difference between Arduino Nano board and Arduino Mini board is support of in-built connectors. As in Arduino Nano board there are in-built connectors present in the board. While on other hand, there is no support of in-built connectors for the Arduino Mini board and this increase the flexibility of board as it can be connected according to project requirement. There is also no built-in support for the programmer in Arduino Mini board.
- The one of the major difference between these two board is the use of RESET button in board. There is support for the RESET button in the Arduino Nano board that is used to reset the microcontroller and all functions are reset. While on other hand, there is no such support for the RESET button in Arduino Mini board design.
- The other difference between these two boards i.e. Arduino Nano and Arduino Mini board. The Arduino Mini board is cheaper when it is compared to Arduino Nano board. The cost is minimum because there is no USB port in the board that decreases the overall board cost. Also there is no Wi-Fi support for the Arduino Mini board that reduces the component and cost of Arduino Mini board.
- The other difference between Arduino Nano board and Arduino Mini board is the power consumption. Although, the power supply to both the boards are same but the power consumption of the Arduino Mini board is low compared to Arduino Nano board. It is because the Arduino Mini board uses the external USB adapter that does not use the power from the board and reduces the power consumption of board.
Arduino Nano vs Mini Comparison Table
Let’s discuss the top comparison between Arduino Nano vs Mini:
| Factors | Arduino Nano | Mini |
| Processor | The Arduino Nano board uses the ATmega328p as the microcontroller to control the board. | The Arduino Mini board uses the ATmega168p and ATmega328p as the microcontroller and to control the board. |
| Input/Operating voltage | The operating voltage for the Arduino Nano board is about 77-12V. And the input voltage for the Arduino Nano board is 5VDC or 3.3VDC (depending on the version of the board). | The operating voltage for the Arduino Mini board is about 7-9V. And the input voltage for the Arduino Mini board is 5V. |
| Speed of CPU | The processor speed for the Arduino Nano board is around 16 MHz. The board contains pins that acts a crystal oscillator and has frequency of 16 MHz. | The processor speed for the Arduino Mini board is around 16 MHz. The board contains the pins that acts crystal oscillator and has frequency of 16 MHz. |
| Input/Output Analog | The total number of analog input count for the Arduino Nano board is 6. There is no analog output pins for this board. | The total number of analog input count for the Arduino Mini board is 8. There is no analog output pins for this board. |
| Digital IO/PWM | The total number of digital input and output pin for the Arduino Nano board is about 14 in 6 pins are used as PWM for the board. | The total number of digital input and output pin for the Arduino Mini board is about 14 in 6 pins are used as PWM for the board. |
| EEPROM (KB) | The size of EEPROM for the Arduino Nano board is 1 KB. | The size of EEPROM for the Arduino Mini board is 1 KB. |
| SRAM (KB) | The size of SRAM for the Arduino Nano board is 2 KB. | The size of SRAM for the Arduino Nano board is 1 and 2 KB. |
| Flash | The size of the internal flash memory for the Arduino Nano board is 32 KB. | The size of the internal flash memory for the Arduino Mini board is 16 and 32 KB. |
| USB Support | The Arduino Nano board has the USB support in the board and uses the FTDI as USB connection. | There is no external USB connection for the Arduino Mini board. |
Conclusion
The Arduino Nano board and Arduino Mini board are used extensively in electronics project and used in the projects that are smaller in size. Due to small size of both boards these boards are preferred over other Arduino boards. The selection of right Arduino board among two is completely based on the user requirements and project requirements.
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