So again, the Lemmy verse is still really confusing and finding the right communities for the right post. This sub seems like they would definitely know about this though

I have always been a laptop guy my whole life because the portability, flexibility and comfortability of them. Never got into PCs or towers because I feel like you gotta have like a workstation and desk all setup. Id rather be able to lay on the couch in front of my TV while using a laptop lol

But anyway, my current dell xps 13 9310 running Debian 12 is slowly reaching its end. The thing only came with TWO ports, both being USB c. Well after years of heavy usage, they’re slowly breaking down. Idk if it would be worth replacing the mother board or just starting over?

Are there any good alternatives or options you guys can think of. I’m simple, in don’t game at all, purely just watch/stream stuff, browse and research and lately have been taking learning more about computing tech more seriously, so I’ve been tinkering and experimenting too. I plan to build skills to work with computer/tech professionally.

I’ve read about thin clients or even mini PCs and idk which route is best bang for buck and most logical. Or if there are known older laptops with great bones but need some minor upgrades to bring it back to current technology. I’m open minded but again, focused on something portable, affordable, smooth, flexible, durable etc. I’m talking a budget solution, like no more than $350ish. There’s probably technology available for this that I’m not even aware of!

Hope you all can help or point me to the right Lemmy communities. Thanks

  • @cpo
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    31 year ago

    I am currently using a refurbed HP EliteDesk G3 with i5, 16G and 500G SSD.

    It is small, silent and uses little power.

    I run Portainer on it with a couple of stacks like:

    • Home assistant
    • Development tooling (git repo’s, CI stuff)

    It handles it beautifully!

    Not sure how attached you are to a laptop though.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      21 year ago

      Hmmm I’m pretty attached to laptops, but I’m sure there’s some portable display options that I could set right on my coffee table or even use my smart TV as a display…

      • @cpo
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        21 year ago

        Hey, who needs it when you have SSH. Seriously ♥️

        • @[email protected]OP
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          21 year ago

          Dude, I surprisingly know very little about ssh. It just never stuck out to me as something to learn about… I never had any uses for remote connections… But maybe now is the time to lol