Vast tracks of swap also helps significantly on a 3B+. 1GB of RAM is a tough place for a "modern" (read horribly bloated) web browser. Without the swap increase, opening a couple tabs could get it to descend into swapping hell. 3B+ with a SSD and 2 GB of swap is useable with Chromium, as long as you don't open too many tabs.I also have bookworm on a Pi3, which is used as a WifI router in port and a chart plotter at sea. That's fine too.Thanks for the replies.
Based on the dismal performance of Bookworm on my 3B+, it would seem that Bookworm is significantly less efficient than Buster or Bullseye, meaning it takes more resources to do the same thing. The Pi 5 runs nothing older than the current OS, Bookworm, while the Pi 4 runs at least back to Bullseye. Is there any argument for using a Pi 4 instead of the Pi 5? I mostly use the Pi for physical computing, like with the RPi Pico using the C++ SDK, Arduino, and also for web surfing related to the same.
I think it depends on your expectations and your use case.
Having said that, a 4B is noticeably faster and a 5 is faster still. 8GB Pi 5 is a very solid desktop machine, for many use cases.
Statistics: Posted by bjtheone — Mon Jul 07, 2025 7:45 pm