My perspective coming from 20 years windows and now owning 2 Pi4s and 2 Linux workstations. I agree that getting a Pi4 was a good idea. But for the hell of it let’s look at these points.
energy consumption
Yeah sure definitely valid point. A Pi4 is like 6watts (same as a led lightbulb) vs a laptop running 40w or NUC running 20w. That’s maybe $7, $23 or $45 annually. An old PC running annually coud easily exceed $100.
This absolutely justifies itself over years of 24/7 uptime.
Energy savings is valid for those of us who know what we’re doing, what our intended usage is and expect to run 100% uptime.
My counterpoint is don’t buy new hardware if you’re learning. If you have an old laptop you can start learning on that one and shut it down once you’re done “labbing”. Running several containers and play with the config or just a few apps on the core OS. As a first timer it’s nice having a screen, keyboard and mouse. Coming from windows and going to terminal access was a pain for me. Helped a lot to start on the machine itself and learn to SSH into my “server.”
reliability
In terms of buying new hardware or OS? Reimage a laptop to your flavor of Linux and the OS point is moot. For Pi4 vs a 10 year old PC this also feels moot unless you’re a high end user who needs production reliability. With either use case you’d want backups of your configs/data.
noise
Yeap. Can’t beat a fanless system with no clicking or humming.
Software support
Again. Feels like a moot point. Earlier we talked about the need for annual energy savings and knowing your workload. That’s above a novice level of knowledge.
However there are baby step guides, and even OS images, built for the Pi4 for things like Pihole and OctoPrint. The support for any mainstream “app” you want to host is fairly vast. Might be a touch easier if you can just say “I have a Pi4” instead of “I have Ubuntu”
Depends on your needs.
performance
I disagree here. Pi4 gives you great performance for the wattage. My counter point is you can run containers on a NUC. Once you hit 4~6 containers you’ll beat some of the benefits of NUC vs 6xPi4s.
The Pi4 is not a system you buy for its performance by itself. Performance per uptime? Sure. Needs vary though.
ethernet port/a way faster ethernet port, availability, faster pcie/storage, io
Needs vary on this one. Old laptops don’t have a pinout, nvme or USB3.
but they do have WiFi /Ethernet /SATA /USB /SD /monitor /keyboard /mouse /webcam /battery
reasons to use laptop ewaste:
already got an old laptop and want to “play around” a bit
live with your parents (or somewhere with electricity included like a studio or dorm) and don’t care about electricity costs.
would prefer a system you can use directly with the convenience of a monitor / keyboard / mouse / battery backup included.
… saving 30 usd once
(Microcenter) They cost $55 for me plus doesn’t come with a powerblock. So $65 maybe for a Pi4 after tax. Also no protective case. That’s another $15. So $80.
Also that’s if I already have an old monitor/hdmi cable/keyboard / mouse/ Ethernet cable/Ethernet switch.
Then again if you want to minmax you can go OrangePi or another SBC.
To anyone wanting to get a Pi4 for a need I hope these thinking points help guide your purchase.
I agree that a Pi4 would beat out an old laptop on many points for 24/7 hosted services but your own needs may vary.
My perspective coming from 20 years windows and now owning 2 Pi4s and 2 Linux workstations. I agree that getting a Pi4 was a good idea. But for the hell of it let’s look at these points.
Yeah sure definitely valid point. A Pi4 is like 6watts (same as a led lightbulb) vs a laptop running 40w or NUC running 20w. That’s maybe $7, $23 or $45 annually. An old PC running annually coud easily exceed $100.
This absolutely justifies itself over years of 24/7 uptime.
Energy savings is valid for those of us who know what we’re doing, what our intended usage is and expect to run 100% uptime.
My counterpoint is don’t buy new hardware if you’re learning. If you have an old laptop you can start learning on that one and shut it down once you’re done “labbing”. Running several containers and play with the config or just a few apps on the core OS. As a first timer it’s nice having a screen, keyboard and mouse. Coming from windows and going to terminal access was a pain for me. Helped a lot to start on the machine itself and learn to SSH into my “server.”
In terms of buying new hardware or OS? Reimage a laptop to your flavor of Linux and the OS point is moot. For Pi4 vs a 10 year old PC this also feels moot unless you’re a high end user who needs production reliability. With either use case you’d want backups of your configs/data.
Yeap. Can’t beat a fanless system with no clicking or humming.
Again. Feels like a moot point. Earlier we talked about the need for annual energy savings and knowing your workload. That’s above a novice level of knowledge.
However there are baby step guides, and even OS images, built for the Pi4 for things like Pihole and OctoPrint. The support for any mainstream “app” you want to host is fairly vast. Might be a touch easier if you can just say “I have a Pi4” instead of “I have Ubuntu”
Depends on your needs.
I disagree here. Pi4 gives you great performance for the wattage. My counter point is you can run containers on a NUC. Once you hit 4~6 containers you’ll beat some of the benefits of NUC vs 6xPi4s.
The Pi4 is not a system you buy for its performance by itself. Performance per uptime? Sure. Needs vary though.
Needs vary on this one. Old laptops don’t have a pinout, nvme or USB3.
but they do have WiFi /Ethernet /SATA /USB /SD /monitor /keyboard /mouse /webcam /battery
(Microcenter) They cost $55 for me plus doesn’t come with a powerblock. So $65 maybe for a Pi4 after tax. Also no protective case. That’s another $15. So $80.
Also that’s if I already have an old monitor/hdmi cable/keyboard / mouse/ Ethernet cable/Ethernet switch.
Then again if you want to minmax you can go OrangePi or another SBC.
To anyone wanting to get a Pi4 for a need I hope these thinking points help guide your purchase.
I agree that a Pi4 would beat out an old laptop on many points for 24/7 hosted services but your own needs may vary.