PC Hardware Recommendation for Linux

General Computing
1

Hi guys, I hope you’re all doing well :+1:

I’ll get straight to the point. I’m planning to build OR buy a PC that runs Fedora Workstation.
My primary usage will be for :

  • Data storage
  • Office suite
  • Multimedia streaming

I’m NOT gonna use :

  • Games
  • Multimedia editors
  • Or any other heavy work

At start, I know that I got to have large capacity of SSDs. 500 GB for OS and apps, and the other one would be x TB for my data.

Please take my needs as consideration, and may you suggest the minimum requirement hardware ? which includes :

  • Motherboard
  • Processor
  • RAM
  • GPU
  • And if there are any other parts required ?

I appreciate the support, thank you :wink:

1 Like
2

Whats with the CPU?

3

My personal recommendation is buying a mini PC for your needs unless you absolutely want to build one.

Minisforum:

Bee-link:

For Linux and Fedora that would only endure minimal strain on your PC, you can literally buy almost anything and it will run fine. If you choose to get one of those mini PCs from companies linked above, it will last for a very very long time unless you somehow mistakenly physically damage it. And you can always upgrade components in those mini PCs too.

Edit: also you haven’t mentioned your budget but you can buy a decent mini PC for about $500 US or around that price that will last for close to a decade if not more - for your use case strictly at-least. But a lot of the computers the companies linked above are selling are close to $1000 than $500 so you are even more future proofed should you go with any one of them.

4

You could also buy a used Enterprise laptop and it’ll work well. I paid $100 for mine, (plus $10 for a power cord,) and it works great for what you’re looking for. Generally Lenovo Thinkpads and Dell Lattitudes play nice with Linux. For a couple hundred more I could put some quality SSDs in it and be good.

Given, I’m running Mint, (Debian,) and not Fedora, but it should be the same principle.

Also, if you want a desktop, same principles apply to Enterprise workstations. Get one, dust it out, slap a new SSD in and you’ll be good to go for little money.

::EDIT:: Lastly, you might want to ask on the distro’s forums. They can be… rather Linux Bro-y, but they usually fan tell you what will and won’t work.

5

Thank you all, I really appreciate the support.

6

This page lists all of the Lenovo products that support Linux and which distro they were tested against. Some were tested for Fedora, but the ones tested only for Ubuntu have a really good chance of working just fine with Fedora.

https://lenovo.com/linux

1 Like
7

Interesting! Thank you for the support.

1 Like
8

Oh, I found another place to buy mini PCs.

https://www.gmktec.com/

9

The idea of getting a mini PC is actually better than building one. I really do appreciate the help. I will begin looking into the websites and trying to customize one for my needs. Thank you

1 Like
10

You’re welcome.

I’m a big fan of mini PCs for any desktop needs for those who don’t need a lot of power for heavy use with creative apps and video editing.

Some of these mini PCs though are getting powerful and also can be linked to external GPUs if need be providing you the ultimate flexibility in a tiny form factor. And it also offers a lot of price flexibility where you can get one barebones or fully loaded.

Plus they work great with Linux too and I speak from experience.

1 Like