Most people don't care about nominal difference in x86 vs arm. They care about cost, performance, efficiency, noise etc. Which applications run on the machine does matter.

The article never explained why the author wanted an ARM setup. I can only consider this a spiritual thing, just like how the author avoids Debian without providing any concrete explanations.

True. However, I've always noticed that ARM has less Linux support than x86, and the main benefits ARM is known for are typically performance/watt, running cooler, and less legacy support.

Since this server seems to have pretty average performance/watt and cooling, I can't really see much advantage to ARM here, at least for typical server use cases.

Unless you're doing ARM development, but I feel like a Pi 4/5 is better for basic development.

https://github.com/edk2-porting/edk2-rk3588

They did not. The rep told me to return it and buy another. :/

I don't feel like this really answers the question thought, right? At least not at face value.

I could see the side of maintenance burden being a potential point, meaning that one would be "pushed" to update the system between releases more often than something else.

I was wondering why the PSU is half the size of the compute unit housing. 15 years ago, sure, but today it just seems cheap and lazy on part of whoever designed it.

Caveat: I'm frequently mistaken, always keen to learn and reduce the error between my perception and reality!

>I'm not a hardware engineer, I've failed miserably in software engineering and now run a VPS host.

I’m curious how hard hosting VPS as a business was to get off the ground? I’ve worked 5 years previously as a Linux sysadmin, but am getting pretty bored at my current job (administering Cisco VOIP systems). Think I’d rather go back to that

> but other Mini PCs do not have the same luxury

My Beelink Me Mini has an integrated PSU. Actually same with the EQR6 I got too.

I think that's why they were comparing to the MacBook Pro rather than the Mac Mini/Studio.

This model accepts 100W USB PD input as well.

They fixed unlock in the last release:

"On a Mac with Apple silicon with macOS 26 or later, FileVault can be unlocked over SSH after a restart if Remote Login is turned on and a network connection is available."

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/managing-filevault-...

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking to replace my aging mini pc with a mac mini, so I'm quite interested in any limitations here.

The full disk encryption I can live without. I'm assuming these limitations don't apply if it's disabled. [Ah, I just saw the other reply that this has now been fixed]

I was aware of the Docker in a VM issue. I haven't tested this out yet, but my expectation is this can be mitigated via https://github.com/apple/container ?

I appreciate any insights here.

    The root of trust for Private Cloud Compute is our compute node: custom-built server hardware that brings the power and security of Apple silicon to the data center, with the same hardware security technologies used in iPhone, including the Secure Enclave and Secure Boot.

Granted, I don't know if it's really server oriented or if they're a bunch of iPhones on cards plugged into existing servers.

Thanks for the reply Jeff. This aligns with my understanding too. I'm close to purchasing a mac mini to replace my aging media pc. The core feature I want is to run microK8s natively, which I'm assuming the newish Mac containers will support.