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There are "desktop PCs" that use laptop parts which could be a good substitution if as other people have mentioned, you don't need GPIO. Very small, low power usage, swappable SATA/M.2 (if new enough) and SODIMMS, and mobile CPU bins (run cool). Some even come with serial!

Dell Optiplex Micro Lenovo Thinkcentre Tiny Various Intel NUCs

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If you want to do this, pass on the Lenovos. Their thin clients and USFF pcs are often bios locked to specific hardware.

I was given one that would have made a decent media PC for the living room if the wifi wasn't ancient, I want to say it was an early Wireless N 150 card.

I swapped out that card for a same sized, same brand Wireless AC card and the PC would no longer boot thanks to some "An approved network card is not installed" BS message in the BIOS.

People have used long workarounds to edit the BIOS to allow these systems to boot with "unapproved" cards, but even for free it's not worth it to me.

There are a lot of good HPs & Dells in the same price/performance category that will simply work without the headache.

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