@duckz I used to be exactly the same way, which is why I've been using only AMD computers for many years. But Panther Lake is currently far superior to any AMD CPU in this area.
Nothing special: admin work, office tasks, a little coding - no AI crap!
But with today’s memory prices - which are going to rise even more in the future - I’ve gone ahead and bought a model that has more than enough power for the next few years. And since my other mini-PCs (made in China) are starting to act up more and more, it’s better to buy now than to wait any longer until prices go up even more.
Change of plans: I didn’t end up waiting for the upcoming Minisforum MS-03 Workstation after all, but instead decided on the ASUS NUC16 PRO on a whim.
The reason was that Wendell from Level1Techs really praised this NUC in his latest video. He also highlighted the great Linux support from both Intel and ASUS. I’ve linked the video below.
And unlike many Chinese manufacturers, you can easily find all the drivers on their support pages (both Intel and ASUS)—including those for Linux! Plus, the download servers are fast, unlike with the Chinese manufacturers...
It has 32 GB of RAM, but unfortunately it’s soldered onto the motherboard on this model—though it does offer faster speeds.
I had to buy the NVMe drive separately; I opted for a 1 TB WD Black SN850X. Since I store everything on the NAS, I need virtually no storage space on the computer itself—just enough for the operating system; 256 GB would be more than enough. But a larger NVMe drive means more speed and a longer lifespan.
Other specs: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, ASRock B390, 2x TB4, 2x 2.5-inch, 4x USB-A 10G, 1x USB-C 10G, 2x HDMI 2.1, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, two M.2 Gen5/Gen4 slots. It’s a breeze!
So, let’s install Linux on it! (To be on the safe side and to ensure the best possible support, it’ll be Fedora again...)
