[Wolves] What's Your Linux Machine?

[Adam Sweet]

On 06/03/2020 12:39, David Goodwin via Wolves wrote:
> 
>> So, what is your Linux machine?
> 
> My desktop is an Intel Skull Canyon NUC (i7 cpu, 2.6Ghz) with 32gb ram
> and 2 Samsung NVME things ( e.g.
> https://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-nuc-skull-canyon-i7-6770hq-quad-core-26ghz-ddr4-2x-m2-iris-pro-graphics-580-barebone
> )

Interesting. I've never really considered NUCs as full desktop machines
but it's sounds like they're every bit as capable, just without the
expandability options of PCIe cards, which frankly I'm not really using
anyway.

> I've been toying with the idea of changing my desktop to an AMD Ryzen
> based system but have been stalling as what I have seems to "just work",
> and I'm not sure it'd be significantly faster.

Ebuyer are doing quite a lot of deals on HP and Lenovo Intel i5 and
Ryzen laptops around the £400 mark for 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD. I actually
bought a Lenovo with a Ryzen 5 3500 CPU for £350 in the black Friday
sales, just because I wanted a Ryzen machine, before common sense kicked
in, I realised I didn't need it and cancelled the order. They're going
for £400 now. If anyone needs a decent spec new laptop and budget in
that region, I'd recommend subscribing to the Ebuyer newsletter.

The next machine I buy will be an AMD Ryzen if things stay as they are.
Not only are they beating the pants off Intel on the price/performance
ratio, they're also not vulnerable to the Meltdown vulnerabilities that
Intel and many other CPUs are. Though it's hard to find meaningful
numbers on the performance impact of the various mitigations, AMD
appears to be by far the least affected.

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