I have an XPS 13 9370 that has been great for my particular preferences. Having said that, I won’t buy another one. When it finally dies (on my third battery and still going strong) I will go for something more open, repairable, and Linux focused, maybe Framework or System76.
Get what you can afford. In many cases, Linux running on a potato will outperform and outlast a more expensive machine running windows for basic use tasks.
I’m running Nextcloud and PaperlessNXG on my servers. Over the last few months I tested out my remote management. Now that I’m back home, I’ve been making a few adjustments based on my learnings. Firstly, Wireguard is slower than a turtle, while Tailscale has been a little bit faster. I’m guessing this is due to my upload speed and switching to fiber may fix this.
I’d also like to add TubeArchivist back in since there’s some great videos that I don’t trust Google to preserve given the direction things are going.
The folks on the “privacy” Lemmy gave me some good tips on app replacements and after making a big spreadsheet with all my apps, their licenses, etc., I cut down my remaining proprietary apps by at least 50% and I only have a few proprietary essentials that still depend on Google Play. I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time and I almost have a path towards completely removing all Google, Amazon, and Microsoft products from my life.
Next, I’d like to set up Wander to eventually get rid of Garmin/Strava but I haven’t been able to figure it out and I’m still locked in to some degree because of my hardware (Garmin watch). The Ring doorbell has to be the next thing to go, but I’m exhausted and haven’t had the motivation to start a new project until the dust settles from the last one.