u/viredditn

I have an old laptop that died, but I still have:
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
512GB HDD

I’m tired of waiting for Mac mini, I want a Linux machine for software development side projects and all time running agents. No gaming.

I’m confused about how desktop builds work though. Do I just buy a CPU? Or do I need a full PC/motherboard? Do I need a dedicated GPU or are integrated graphics enough for Linux/dev work?

I’ve been looking at mini PCs / barebones systems where I can reuse laptop RAM and storage. Is that the best route, or should I build a normal desktop instead?

I am waiting for Mac mini 24gb to be available but looks like it’s never going to be 🥲 I read rumors about m5 Mac mini announcement this wwdc, what you guys think?
And, is waiting like this useless and should I just book a device and wait for delivery/pick up?