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I’ve recently switched entirely to using a Raspberry Pi 5 (16GB) as my main home desktop, and I’m really enjoying the change. I still have a Windows 11 laptop from work (sadly, I don’t get a choice there), but everything else—home tasks, hobbies, music, RAW photo editing, browsing—you name it—is now running on the Pi.

A few details for context:

It’s overclocked to 2.95GHz on the CPU and 1.05GHz on the GPU Housed in a Pironman 5 Max case for cooling, Running a 1TB SSD, a Dragonfly DAC for sound, and an additional powered USB 3 hub. Pi OS as the operating system.

I know this setup isn’t really “budget SBC” territory anymore—honestly, I could’ve bought a full PC for less.

But for me, the big motivator was privacy: minimal telemetry, no forced cloud integration, coding, minimal notifications, and I use a NAS to replace cloud services. oh it also saved a bunch of space in my tiny home office.

What I’m curious about is this: how many others here are using a Pi as their main home computer? I’d love to hear people’s experiences.

For context, I switched in September after my 2012 iMac finally gave up. I already had a Pi 5 (4GB) acting as a firewall directly on my router, so it felt natural to try the 16GB model as a full desktop. Coming up on three months now.

Has anyone else gone down a similar path—maybe with a Pi 5, Pi 500, or another model? I’m fascinated to hear how it’s worked out for you.

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    raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask Our community is defined by a specific set of topics that you can view in the help center; please stick to those topics and avoid asking for opinions or open-ended discussion. Commented Nov 21 at 18:03
  • Hi Fred, Apologies I didn't mean to break rules :/ I was just intrigued that's all, as you guys have helped me plenty getting my Pi running properly as a main desktop. Neal Commented Nov 21 at 18:16
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    Casting about for "survey purposes" gets you a flag. If you've had luck here for getting the system running, it would imply that you were able to create a specific question to be answered. Reddit is a good place to cast about if you are so inclined. Commented Nov 21 at 18:20
  • Hi Fred, it wasn't a survey or anything. I'm still tweaking my system and just wanted to know from others; pitfalls, plus sides for going down the same route as I have, nothing more but i take it on board and will be more specific in the future :) Commented Nov 21 at 18:27
  • I could’ve bought a full PC for less ... you can easily run Linux on a full PC Commented Nov 21 at 20:34

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