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Ask HN: Does anyone use a single-board computer for their PC?

3 points by toomanyducks ↗ HN
I know the Raspberry Pi marketing has been extremely centered on use as a cheap PC lately, but I can really only use my (admittedly kind of old) rPi as a NAS. Does anyone use an rPi or something similar as their main PC, and if so, what are the details of your setup?

4 comments

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eimrine
The brand new Raspberry Pi costs as much as used laptop's motherboard with a core2duo processor so I think nobody does this.
Mister_X
I used older laptops for years, but Laptops take too much desk space, plus, I already have monitors and don't want an aditional screen tied to a laptop.
Mister_X
Mr. Nobody here...

I tried using my RasPi3 as a stand alone box for a few days, but it was too feeble.

It's not an SBC, but I'm currently running a Chuwi LarkBox Pro for the last 2 weeks.

Chuwi LarkBox Pro Stats: Intel Celeron J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz × 4 mem 5.6 GiB Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 605 Linux Mint 20.1 Cinnamon ver 4.8.6 kernal 5.4.0-65-generic Win10 dual boot, but only use Win for a video chat app that isn't ported to Linux.

Yeah, I needed a usb hub with a NIC, but it works just fine.

It's been working without troubles for basic email, web surfing, text editing, spreadsheet, etc., handles 25+ tabs in Firefox, video plays fine, I have no need for 4k content.

It's likely not up to tasks like video editing, but audio editing on Audacity is great.

Can't beat the price if one is on a strict budget like I am.

SBC's keep getting more powerful, so soon they'll be ready for a single box replacement, some good looking boards coming out these days.