From: Evan Leibovitch via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org>
At this point it seems to me that anyone using an RPi who isn't taking advantage of the GPIO header is something of a masochist, bearing all the continuing limitations of the ARM SBC ecosystem with little comparative benefit in return.
The idea that a Raspberry Pi might make a good desktop computer is no longer reasonable. That goal came from us, the enthusiasts. Not the project itself. We kept urging that new models include more RAM, more CPU, faster I/O (USB 3, Ultra HD HDMI, gigabit ethernet, PCIe). Some of these forced active cooling. Each of these increased the price and, as you say, banged up against refurbed conventional PC. The pi still seems useful: - for teaching / learning - for little servers - for edge devices, limited by your imagination Alone amongst the ARM SBCs, the Raspberry Pi has a critical mass of software support, community, and a guarantee of long support. (Part of the cost of a Pi comes from ARM licensing fees. The original RPi 1 core took a very few cents for licensing. The RPi 5 core costs serious money. You can see that in the price of RK3588 boards too. <https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005841939948.html>)