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From: Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Raspberry Pi5 versus other cheap Intel based boxes for general
 computing
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2024 10:19:06 +0100
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On 03/04/2024 16:54, John Larkin wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 17:38:29 +0200, Jeroen Belleman
> <jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:
> 
>> On 4/3/24 16:57, John Larkin wrote:
>>> On Wed, 03 Apr 2024 05:21:26 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> What somone learned when he replaced a cheap Pi 5 PC with a no-name Amazon mini desktop
>>>> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/what-i-learned-when-i-replaced-my-cheap-pi-5-pc-with-a-no-name-amazon-mini-desktop/
>>>>
>>>> All that said, I post this from a Pi4 8GB, it is sometimes really slow,
>>>> but I like and use the GPIO port.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Considering how important a computer is to our professional and
>>> personal lives, why do people go to great effort to save a few
>>> dollars?
>>>
>>> If a cheap PC fails, it will take days of your time, or more likely
>>> weeks, to recover.
>>>
>>
>> If an expensive one fails, it takes just a much.

It is sometimes worth paying a premium to have a machine that is fast 
enough for your immediate project needs (even if cheaper ones are more 
easily available). You pay quite a high premium for that last bit of 
performance when it is still very new.
>>
>> Jeroen Belleman
> 
> Presumably it fails less often. Cheap electrolytics, cheap fans,
> under-cooled parts will fail.

Some of the best designed PCs are from the gaming community suppliers. 
If you remove the graphics card entirely the main CPU graphics system is 
more than good enough for all 2D design and some 3D rendering work.

They perform incredibly well and have huge slow fans so under ordinary 
heavy loads they remain very quiet. Ones intended for corporate office 
workers tend to have inadequate power supplies and small noisy fans 
reflecting their typical workload and noisy environment.

> I just bought four new identical tower PCs, for work, home, cabin, and
> a spare. Once my main box was set up, we cloned the SS drives to the
> other three. So if my work PC dies, I have three others available.

Your choice but owning several machines of the same vintage leaves you 
exposed to any glitches in the new machines or their OS's. MS has been 
known to brick portables on Win10/11 from time to time - not fun at all.

> They have identical monitors too, so my desktop won't go crazy if the
> video resolution changes. I hate when that happens.

That is a bit OCD.

-- 
Martin Brown