I wholly agree. I've upgraded to a Dell Optiplex 7040 Micro (refurbished) for cheap and it's a great unit for a node. ~$200 and you've got a i5 processor, 16GB of RAM and SSD with the ability to add another m.2 drive. Lots of these for sale online.
I should mention if you just want a basic node, then a Pi will work, but if you want lighting channels and extra features, it's prob best to upgrade.
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Thanks for this - this and the original post has inspired me to give up the wait for a Pi and do the same. I'm a complete beginner though - do you know of any good guides for how to get setup?
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