On 12/31/2021 at 8:20 PM, TomXP411 said:
The problem I have with the Pi is that the modern web slightly overwhelms that machine. Something similar to the Pi, but with about 2x the CPU power would probably be ideal for a simple desktop system.
The biggest problem I run into is it sometimes struggles with 1080 video streaming (YouTube), but it's hit and miss, sometimes it plays fine, sometimes it hiccups. To be honest, a vast majority of the web usage I do while on the Pi 4 runs great, but that's mainly forums, tutorial or technical doc viewing, or searching for information I need for whatever I am doing in that moment. So I really have not had the chance to really push it all that hard in that respect. I will have to do that one of these days.
To be fair, like I said, I run everything from that M.2 SSD and have it hooked up via cat6, I don't use the wireless on it.
Overall I am quite happy with the Pi 4's performance for what I am asking it do to. It's definitely not a desktop replacement, but as an alternative, it's not bad. I could honestly see me using it as a daily driver if I had no other choice. However I definitely see room for improvement for the next gen Pi. Just like you I would love to see a faster processor, and if nothing else, M.2 or SATA. The SSD over USB if lightyears ahead of using an SD card or flash drive, but a lot of the Pi's performance issues come from the highly limited storage speeds.