> But seriously, if you just want a cheap linux desktop, grab any laptop from ebay from the past decade. If you want, strip all the casing and peripherals off -

> But seriously, if you just want a cheap linux desktop, grab any laptop from ebay from the past decade. If you want, strip all the casing and peripherals off -- the mainboards are pretty small. I totally believe that this would outperform the RPi4. But I don't always need much performance, and it seems like more work and/or uncertainty to me: * Batteries. People say that if you don't cycle them occasionally they can swell and be a fire hazard. I'd rather not deal with that. Will "any laptop from ebay from the past decade" run without batteries in it? * Running closed. I've also heard that laptops are designed to be used open for heat reasons. Will running it closed cause problems? * Stripping casing and peripherals off. I want it in some case, ideally as compact as the Pi4. Can I find a good case for it and mount it successfully? I'm not much of a hardware DIYer—basically the closest I get is assembling a standard ATX desktop. And will it run headless? If the BIOS gets reset or something, do I need to reattach the stuff to get into the BIOS and allow it to boot without video / keyboard? * Reproducibility. Let's say I'm using it to run a particular open source project (my NVR project, HomeAssistant, etc). From the perspective of either someone telling others how to set it up or the perspective of someone trying to follow those instructions, it's better if I have exactly the same thing, so there aren't so many variations and problems with the physical questions (see above), drivers, etc. The Pi4's availability and price are known quantities world-wide and for a long time. Whatever model I happened to find cheap probably isn't like that. I've had success with a middle ground: buy an used NUC from eBay. Maybe it's hard to find the exact same model, but it's always the same form factor that doesn't need to be modded in a novel way, will always run a stock Linux distribution without problems, etc.