>I remember a time when you could get a semi-top-of-the-line raspberry model for under 30 bucks.
You still can, but its performance will be dog-slow at PC/web/server tasks compared to an Intel NUC off the used market.
That's why most people who bough those RPis had them collecting dust after a few weeks since you can blink LEDs with an 5$ Arduino/ESP32 too.