A new year, a new desktop...
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkcPnBxXwZSJ-gRkYZ6_HuuMHOtPzxIhOXIIehPFEkKBe5HwydoQcWez53mkI9Yqd4xaIUbFZE--9YYKMhutHHWknSESYjuQpJJKAGw4tzdHKtPFqNLWqZvYLgpKyC0YGtBjJ65475lU_3kQ6vzH-p3XsaQMNd2G41dY2ex5OKoZ5lkcRcD7Vu43I1g/w640-h230/Screenshot%20from%202023-01-04%2010-33-33.png)
This time last year I switched back to the Mac after using Linux as my primary desktop operating system for several years. I am still very much a Mac fan, however I do find that software development, particularly software that will ultimately run on a Linux server, is easier to do on Linux, and software development is my plan for 2023. I do have a 4 year old laptop I could press into service, but from time to time I might like to boot into Windows and play a bit of Cities Skylines again and the laptop isn't up to gaming, so instead I decided to go with a new x86 box. Typically I build my own computers so I started to price up a machine with a modern CPU, graphics card and so on but as ever I was getting carried away and the price soon crept well over $2,000. I also wasn't keen on having an overpowered tower on my desk again, so I looked into building a smaller form factor unit, the smallest Mini-ITX I could find and scaling back the parts appropriately to avoid over heating it.