You can still run a node by installing Bitcoin Core on your day-to-day computer and still shut it down at night or over the weekend, and only use it when you need it.
This is pretty much what I do these days. Mine is only running when I want to receive a payment or execute coinjoins. It doesn't take long to resync if my node has only been offline for a few weeks.
I did play around with the pi distros. I think they're cool, but personally I didn't have much of a need for them.