My eternal search for a travel router+AP with RAM

Hello all!

My nano-PC t6 LTS (16gb) died and I'm taking another shot at the ultimate travel router.

The shortcomings of the T6 were that the mPCIE only supported a USB 2.0 bus and that adding a Asia RF DBDC card requires a hacky adapter from the NVME m.2 and modifying the case. This left me using a Mt79xx M.2 card with a single band of 5ghz for wifi (fine but not ideal).

The purpose of the device is to function as a router, AP, and (most importantly) host docker containers on the go (kinda a portable home lab).

I'm not married to ARM and see potential x64 candidates (Intel n100 and n305) on aliexpress, but the size of the T6 is ideal.

Requirements:

2.5g NIC(s)

8+ gigs of RAM

Can support a 3052 DDBC wifi module (with or without adapter) such as this one: https://asiarf.com/product/wi-fi-6e-m-2-ae-key-module-mt7916-aw7916-aed/

Or this one: https://asiarf.com/product/aw7916-npd-wi-fi-6e-ax3000-module-precision-coaxial-cables-and-wi-fi-7-antennas/

I've seen some folks use RPIs with HATs as well as the Raxda boards but just wanted to pick the collective mind while I shop for a replacement.

I just saw the nano-PC T6 plus was released but alas the M.2 slot that replaced the mPCIE is still USB bus only….

Any wisdom or experience is appreciated.

Bananapi R4 ? RJ45s are gigabit, but you've got two SFP+s.

There's also support for Bananapi BPi-R4 2.5GE, but it only got one 2.5GbE port and one SFP+, according to https://openwrt.org/inbox/toh/sinovoip/bananapi_bpi-r4.

Size and RAM are the problem with that board, but appreciate the suggestion.

in that case change 8+ to >8.