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  3. Must fight temptation to buy an overpriced raspberry pi

Must fight temptation to buy an overpriced raspberry pi

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  • R [email protected]

    I would assume that landfill laptop manufacturers are trying to minimize costs even harder on the charger.

    but what timeframe do you mean with "anymore"? laptops made in this decade, or the last 10 years, or something else? there's plenty of old laptops that fitinto OPs category.

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    wrote last edited by
    #204

    Probably for as long as raspberry pis have been around. There have been plenty of scares with phone chargers exploding, and that's what a raspberry pi is powered from. Laptop chargers haven't had many issues in the past decade or so.

    R 1 Reply Last reply
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    • crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyzC [email protected]

      original post: https://mk.moth.zone/notes/a8zer7ypj6uv02ka

      ulrich@feddit.orgU This user is from outside of this forum
      ulrich@feddit.orgU This user is from outside of this forum
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      wrote last edited by [email protected]
      #205

      A RPi is going to be smaller, quieter, and 10x more energy efficient though...

      H 1 Reply Last reply
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      • crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyzC [email protected]

        original post: https://mk.moth.zone/notes/a8zer7ypj6uv02ka

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        wrote last edited by [email protected]
        #206

        I had the accounting self hosted web app on it until I was too lazy for accounting and now I am in so called hot water and must make bunch of shit up using mathematical apparatus

        But it worked really well for a year or so

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • C [email protected]

          I'm sure silicon valley are stepping on each other, vying to get their hands on these super cheap laptops for their 24/7 AI training.

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          wrote last edited by
          #207

          They aren't very useful for much besides hobby projects. Modern hardware is more energy efficient and will be cheaper in the long run compared to anything that would be considered e-waste. The only advantage an old laptop has is the initial cost, so it makes sense for a small home server.

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          • A [email protected]

            Are any of them actually that good in efficiency though? Like a Pi 5 is probably the best in performance per watt, but it also has the highest power consumption. Realistically you wouldn't self host on anything older than a Pi 4 anyway.

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            wrote last edited by
            #208

            I can self host what I want on a pi zero. But, I do have some 30 years of experience so can probably do things some won't understand / bother with.

            A 1 Reply Last reply
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            • jackbydev@programming.devJ [email protected]

              Also, Raspberry Pi first got popular because of the size and cost. Now it's popular because it's popular. Not hating on them, I think they're cool, but they're not cheap any more. Especially with the scalping.

              Getting x86_64 based systems is going to mean much less headache. Unless you truly truly need the size I wouldn't consider getting a Pi or other SBC. Just go to literally any used marketplace (Facebook, Craigslist, etc) and get anything.

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              wrote last edited by
              #209

              That's only true for the high-end Pi 5. Lower-powered models like the zero 2 are still cheap, and they're a lot easier to find than a few years ago.

              jackbydev@programming.devJ 1 Reply Last reply
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              • A [email protected]

                That's only true for the high-end Pi 5. Lower-powered models like the zero 2 are still cheap, and they're a lot easier to find than a few years ago.

                jackbydev@programming.devJ This user is from outside of this forum
                jackbydev@programming.devJ This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote last edited by
                #210

                Which part? Because the "it's not x86" is even more annoying to deal with on Pi Zero lol.

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                • C [email protected]

                  I can self host what I want on a pi zero. But, I do have some 30 years of experience so can probably do things some won't understand / bother with.

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                  wrote last edited by
                  #211

                  Bro please. I understand you can host very small stuff on less powerful Pis. I used to host some stuff on a Raspberry Pi model b myself. Stop tooting your own horn. You couldn't however host all the stuff I use or even most home labbers use on a Pi zero with modern software. I doubt it could run Jellyfin, an *arr stack, ollama, nextcloud, etc all at the same time. Probably you would also have to drop using containers which would be less secure and easy to deploy.

                  What's the performance per watt of a Pi Zero anyway? I am sure it's low power draw but I doubt it's actually efficient.

                  C 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • C [email protected]

                    I'm sure silicon valley are stepping on each other, vying to get their hands on these super cheap laptops for their 24/7 AI training.

                    ulrich@feddit.orgU This user is from outside of this forum
                    ulrich@feddit.orgU This user is from outside of this forum
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                    wrote last edited by
                    #212

                    No Silicon Valley are the ones throwing these things away because it costs them too much money to deal with old unreliable PCs.

                    C 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • B [email protected]

                      If you have the lid closed, you're looking at 3 to 15 watts to have a laptop running in the background doing some basic server shit.

                      Maybe a little more under high load, but those are going to be intermittent and not constant.

                      I'm just saying it's not that much more electricity usage, and the recycling more than offsets the CO2.

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                      wrote last edited by
                      #213

                      Not quite. Unless the system has pretty advanced power management and is using very recent technology with high density, it's unlikely that an x64 chipset will use less power than a comparably powered arm64 chipset. Not just the processor, but the smaller board is actually a power saver and allows it to generate less heat meaning both less power wasted and dissipated as heat as well as less power needed for fans to properly dissipate the heat. I've never seen a laptop use 3W at idle when considering the whole device, maybe just the CPU, but not if you include the rest of the components like RAM and disks and power supply. And especially true in a laptop that is old enough that it's being recycled. Heck, the power supply and charger alone might be using 3W at idle with full battery.

                      With a raspberry pi 4, the typical power usage for the 2GB RAM model is 5W under load for the whole device and about half that for idle. Add a couple of watts for the extra memory and wider bus on the 8GB model and other things can add to that, but that's mostly accurate. The pi 5 is a little more and the 3 is a little less. Of course, the efficiency of the laptop at full load might end up being better than a comparable number of raspberry pis it would take to do the same amount if work, but comparing a single pi or any other reputable arm-based, single board computer to a single laptop at idle is always going to be that way.

                      A 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyzC [email protected]

                        original post: https://mk.moth.zone/notes/a8zer7ypj6uv02ka

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                        wrote last edited by
                        #214

                        Only if you're running it at full load all the time and comparing that to a comparable number of raspberry pis it would take to do the same amount of work. Also, only if you live in a cold climate and the heat generated is not a concern and power is supplied by a renewable source so power isn't a concern.

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                        • chaoticentropy@feddit.ukC [email protected]

                          I guess I am pretty far from saturating my WiFi in any way, the removal of cables with little to no impact on connectivity was far more of a priority for me. I have never noticed a WiFi related outage or performance loss.

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                          wrote last edited by
                          #215

                          My WiFi routers have historically struggled a bit, I've got a decent one now, but even it is slow to manage the DHCP lists for fixed assignments by MAC address.

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                          • T [email protected]

                            Should see an old 6th gen i5 mini PC on a power monitor. It's basically nothing!

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                            wrote last edited by
                            #216

                            Yeah, they've reversed that trend for sure.

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • K [email protected]

                              Your energy is clearly a lot cheaper than mine then.

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                              wrote last edited by
                              #217

                              Well, the idea scales, if your energy is 0.33 Euro per kWh take the watts x 3 and that's your annual running cost.

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                              • I [email protected]

                                I used to think so too, but my pi-hole just died the other week after four years of uptime. Couldn't work it out, finally pulled the SD card out to reinstall the OS and found my laptop wouldn't recognise it.

                                Made me glad I don't run my mailserver on a Pi anymore!

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                                wrote last edited by
                                #218

                                I join you, I used to change SD card and USB disk every 1-2 year. I bought a nas 3 year ago didn't need to change disk yet.

                                1 Reply Last reply
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                                • A [email protected]

                                  Probably for as long as raspberry pis have been around. There have been plenty of scares with phone chargers exploding, and that's what a raspberry pi is powered from. Laptop chargers haven't had many issues in the past decade or so.

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                                  wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                  #219

                                  I have heard less about phone chargers failing catastrophically. They also handle much less power (except the fancy ones), and I haven't seen a hot phone charger adapter yet, but plenty laptop chargers of which some were just very warm, and some so hot just on its outsides that it was uncomfortable to hold it in hand.

                                  this is why I'm more worried about laptop chargers

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • A [email protected]

                                    Bro please. I understand you can host very small stuff on less powerful Pis. I used to host some stuff on a Raspberry Pi model b myself. Stop tooting your own horn. You couldn't however host all the stuff I use or even most home labbers use on a Pi zero with modern software. I doubt it could run Jellyfin, an *arr stack, ollama, nextcloud, etc all at the same time. Probably you would also have to drop using containers which would be less secure and easy to deploy.

                                    What's the performance per watt of a Pi Zero anyway? I am sure it's low power draw but I doubt it's actually efficient.

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                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #220

                                    See here's the thing. Why would anyone want to host ALL the stuff on one pi? That is not what they were designed for. Ollama on a pi? Are you out of your mind? I'd run the biggest model I can on a modern gpu not some crappy old computer or pi....Right tool, right job. And why is dropping containers "less secure"? Do you mean "less cool"? Less easy to deploy? But you're not deploying it, you're installing it. You sound like a complete newb which is fine, but just take a step back from things and get some more experience. A pi is a tool for a purpose, not the end all. Using an old laptop is not going to save the world and arguing that it's just better than a pi (or similar alternative) is just dumb. Use a laptop for all I care, I'm not the boss of you.

                                    As for an arr stack, I'm really disappointed with the software and don't use it and those who do have way too much time to set it up, and then make use of it!

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                                    • ulrich@feddit.orgU [email protected]

                                      No Silicon Valley are the ones throwing these things away because it costs them too much money to deal with old unreliable PCs.

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                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #221

                                      Damn, I should have ended the post with /s for people like you.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyzC [email protected]

                                        original post: https://mk.moth.zone/notes/a8zer7ypj6uv02ka

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                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #222

                                        Look for refurbished elitedesk g5, it runs debian magnificantly! I splurged a bit on the memory and ssd and have a quite nice desktop (developer).

                                        eru@mouse.chitanda.moeE 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • jackbydev@programming.devJ [email protected]

                                          Also, Raspberry Pi first got popular because of the size and cost. Now it's popular because it's popular. Not hating on them, I think they're cool, but they're not cheap any more. Especially with the scalping.

                                          Getting x86_64 based systems is going to mean much less headache. Unless you truly truly need the size I wouldn't consider getting a Pi or other SBC. Just go to literally any used marketplace (Facebook, Craigslist, etc) and get anything.

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                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #223

                                          but they're not cheap any more

                                          People say this, but they really are still cheap.

                                          The original Raspberry Pi Model B launched for £22 in 2012. The entry level Raspberry Pi 5 is £46, but adjusted for inflation that's only £32 in 2012 money. So only £10 more expensive in real terms.

                                          Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is only £14.40, which is only £10 in 2012 money. Compare this to the original Raspberry Pi Model A, which launched for £16.

                                          People look at the headline cost of the high end RPi 5s (£115 for the 16GB model, £76 for the 8GB), but fail to recognise that there was nothing comparable to these in the Raspberry Pi lineup before, and these are not the only models in the Raspberry Pi lineup now.

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