[dotBen]

But the trouble is they are too expensive. Not sure I would buy a NUC but tons of gently used/new overstock thin-client machines from Lenovo (ThinkCenter) and Dell Optiplex that cost $75-200 depending on spec and give you as good or better bang for buck, more reliable, etc.

(I would however separate out unique applications with the RPI Zero given the form factor)

[geerlingguy]

At the risk of continuing this off-topic thread — the Zero 2 W is probably the sweet spot for value for the Pi right now, in terms of what you get for the price, and the utility of the device. (I'm setting one up as a PiSCSI emulator for my old Macs this week!)

Pi Connect doesn't work on the Zero 2 W though ;)

[nsteel]

Do you know why that is? The Zero 2 W (and Pi 3) support the 64-bit verison of Raspberry Pi OS. Don't they also run Wayland? Not enough RAM?

EDIT: I should have taken a minute to check the Pi OS release notes:

> Desktop now runs on the Wayfire Wayland compositing window manager on Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 platforms; on X11 using the openbox window manager on older platforms

[geerlingguy]

Yeah, I think it's just a resource thing, maybe on the GPU side.

[merpkz]

Still cheaper than NUCs and usually come new with warranty, much smaller form-factor and power requirements.

[vel0city]

Browse some government auctions near a university and you'll buy dozens of older Dell Optiplexes for $200.

[aborsy]

They have older CPUs, that consume more power, support limited RAM, and have power supplies that may fail anytime.

[justin66]

> But the trouble is they are too expensive.

Are they really?