Pi5 4GB experiment

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For those that are wondering whether you can use a Raspberry Pi 5 with four gigabytes of RAM as a desktop replacement the answer is “not really”. I know I should have said this at the end but I prefer to tell people immediately.

## The OS

For this experiment I am running Raspberry Pi OS, the version released: 2024-03-15. I have no doubt that Raspberry Pi OS Lite and Ubuntu Server would be fine. I should run this experiment again with Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 LTS at a later date to see if there is a discernible difference.

## An Experiment

I think that using the Pi5 4gb is an interesting experiment. What makes the experiment interesting is that you can use bottom (sudo snap install bottom) to track ram usage as you browse from one site to another. If you open one or two sites at a time you will see a leap in ram use. You will also see which sites are friendly to low resource computers, and which are likely to crash the Pi5 4gb.

Having limited RAM is great for doom scrollers because if you “doom scroll” for too long the computer will either slow down or crash, and your doom scrolling will come to an end.

As I got ready to write this blog post I opened Visual Studio Code at the same time as I had Firefox open and it came very close to crashing the computer. I removed the cover for the Pi 5 case I’m using. The temperature is idling at 59°c and RAM usage is at 2.0 gigabytes out of 3.9.

With the Pi5 8gb, in contrast, I can open several websites, and have VS Code running without issues. The difference in cost between the 4 and 8 GB pi is around 20 CHF, so for 20 francs more you gain a lot in flexibility.

## Case

I am using the [Argon40 Neo 5 Case](https://www.galaxus.ch/fr/s1/product/neo-case-pour-raspberry-pi-5-accessoires-pour-carte-de-developpement-41880639?ip=argon+neo) The fan makes quite a bit of noise at bootup but then it is quiet most of the time. With this case you place the pi5 within. You plug the fan to the power socket on the Pi, and then you screw everything together. You can then use it as is, or you can add the protective lid. What I like about this case is that it fits the Pi well, without sticking anything to the Pi directly. With the Pi5 original case, and active cooler, you’re stuck with it. I tried removing one but I thought I would break it if I persisted. With this case you just unscrew the top and base, and remove the Pi.

The other advantage of this case is that it has the power button, easy to access by default. The case is designed so that if you want to power on, or off the Pi, you can. With the [FLIRC case](https://www.galaxus.ch/fr/s1/product/flirc-etui-pour-raspberry-pi-5-accessoires-pour-carte-de-developpement-41880640) you need to place it correctly.

## Conclusion

You can run the Pi5 4gb as a desktop replacement but you have to be careful.You can browse two or three sites at once but you have to be wary of which sites you load. Some sites are more demanding than others so crashing the system is quite easy. I almost crashed it opening VS Code whilst having two or three browser windows open.

The Pi5 4gb struggles when being asked to perform like a desktop. I think that it’s great if you want to browse one site at a time, post on FB and more, but only when multitasking. It can be used for writing but it is limited.

Having said this, I can use it consistently for hours on end without crashes, but I keep an eye on the temperature and RAM usage.

As I wrote this blog post I found myself questioning whether to swap the Pi5 that I am using as a server for Audiobookshelf, photoprism and Immich with this Pi. I will decide later.