If you just want a little Linux box and don't need GPIO, I'd recommend buying a used "thin client" from eBay. These are usually low-end x86(-64) machines with d

If you just want a little Linux box and don't need GPIO, I'd recommend buying a used "thin client" from eBay. These are usually low-end x86(-64) machines with decent connectivity but not much storage, as they're meant to just display the UI for apps running on a server somewhere. You can generally hack more storage into them pretty easily. A 4-thread machine with case, heat sink, power supply, 8gb ram, and an SSD can be had for less than the MSRP of a bare 8GB RPi 4. One downside is power: the thin clients generally idle around 5-10W and use 20W or more at peak; compared to the Pi which will idle at 2 watts and use 10W peak. http://parkytowers.me.uk/thin/ http://parkytowers.me.uk/thin/ is a great resource for understanding the different models that are available.