Raspberry Pi is a terrible Linux desktop, but these 4 alternate SBCs deliver mini PC-level performance
Aug 15, 2026 | Guides
The Raspberry Pi 5 is a fairly capable SBC, but it doesn’t make a great desktop—as soon as you start trying to multitask, browser tabs start to lag, and the entire system will struggle. Between a relatively low-power GPU, the limitations of a microSD card boot drive (which is the default unless you buy an M.2 hat), and a CPU that will readily thermally throttle without active cooling, it just isn’t up to the job.