Buy Once for Me, Not for Thee

Ars Technica on a brief experiment in replacing a Raspberry Pi with cheap mini PCs: 

I recently tried to use a Raspberry Pi 5 as a regular desktop PC. The experiment wasn't a failure—I was able to use a Pi to get most of my work done for a few days. But the device's performance, and especially the relative immaturity of the Linux's Arm software ecosystem, meant that there were lots of incompatibilities and rough edges.

Yeah. Don't confuse "Apple has moved to ARM" with "Linux on ARM." 

One of the problems with trying to use a Pi 5 as a regular desktop computer is that, by the time you've paid for the 8GB version of the board, a decent active cooler and case, and (ideally) some kind of M.2 storage attachment and SSD, you've spent close to a couple of hundred dollars on the system. That's not a ton of money to spend on a desktop PC, but it is enough that the Pi no longer feels miraculously cheap, and there are actually other, more flexible competitors worth considering. Consider the selection of sub-$200 mini desktop PCs that litter the online storefronts of Amazon and AliExpress. 

... then many more paragraphs of spec peeping. 

Which, fine.  I went down that rabbit hole for a hot second, too, before deciding I was more interested in trailing edge used or refurbished stuff, because I am not sure what the useful life of a new Amazon/AliExpress drop-ship, white label,  parts bin mini-PC really is, and what happens to them after they stop being useful on what is surely an accelerated obsolescence curve. 

I wish we collectively prioritized sustainability along with access to technology, as opposed to "'buy once use forever' is for rich people, for everyone else here's something for the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd."