So to be clear, you aren’t recommending them.

I’m willing to give it a shot, but have you gotten Steam to run on it without issues?

ThinkPenguin hardware is extremely outdated. Would definitely consider PCSpecialist if it was an option.

that was the first thing I looked into, but Asahi is very much still in alpha and barely hanging on. If I could install properly supported linux on a MBP I would be all over that. I would not mind paying the Apple tax if I could get the performance, build quality, and battery life without using macOS.

Didn’t know about Awesome Self Hosted, I’ve just bookmarked it, will definitely be checking that out. There are other features I need from NextCloud, the calendar was just one example.

Not a fan of docker because it is not completely open source, so I’ve been using podman instead. Portainer looks cool and is something I would like to use, however I’m worried that it’ll end up going the way of enshitification since it’s run by a for profit company for the sole purpose of profit. Also not a fan of their license.

Are there any good guides that you would recommend to a beginner on how to properly set it up?

No! I’m on the opposite end of this and I’m looking to sell my PS5. Let me break down for you my mistake in purchasing into Sony’s ecosystem:

• You have to pay for the subscription service to play non-free games online. And they love to jack up the price and eliminate any potential avenue of discounts.
• The PS5 controllers are great in terms of functionality, but their build quality is terrible. All 3 of my official Sony controllers suffer from stick drift, and guess what, all third party controllers that exist for the PS5 are ridiculously expensive. If you’re out of warranty period, they just tell you to trash the controller and buy a new one. Call a local repair shop to fix it, and it costs more than the controller itself.
• Sony doesn’t respect it’s consumers (at least in Western markets). When they launched the limited edition PS5 Pro they had restrictions in Japan to prevent scalping. Not so in the rest of the world. They also had incredibly low stock. They also took scalping precautions on launch units, but only for Japan. The rest of us were left to fend for ourselves.
• The killing off of physical media is solely so they can generate more profit off of game sales. By eliminating brick and mortar stores from the equation they get rid of heavy discounts on clearance products, they don’t have to pay them their cut nor ship them the product, and they effectively eliminate second hand sales.
• They’re constantly funneling money into garbage live service, like Concord, then turn around and cancel single player games that are statistically likely to be successful. I’m not a Kojima fan, and I haven’t played any of his games in years, but it’s practically guaranteed that Physint is going to be a success since all his fans will come out in droves to buy it, like all his other games.
• They don’t have a reasonable refund policy. They game has to be in exceptionally bad state for them to give you a refund, as in a broken mess like CyberPunk 2077.
• Sony doesn’t respect ownership. They’ve taken away customers digital purchases on several occasions. Not just with their Playstation brand, but they did it when they acquired Crunchy Roll and merged it with Funimation.
• Sony is also working on stuffing more ads into their ecosystem. source

Sony doesn’t respect their customers, nor do they respect game makers. I haven’t bought a game for my PS5 in over a year and the only reason why I’ve kept it around is because my child plays GT7. As a person who has loved PlayStation since inception: FUCK SONY