Wanted to get a raspberry pi, should I just get a mini PC instead?

[VirusDumb]

So I wanted a raspberry pi for a long time like back when the raspberry pi 3 was new, mainly just to make myself like one of those diy retropie consoles/handheld emulation machine.

Finally 6 years later my mom agreed to get me one but then I saw this

 

I mean for making a retro console, the PC would be a better choice, but I also thought of playing around with the pi and use it to learn to code stuff and make things, but the price is just a no brainer, I mean I haven't seen any useful stuff apart from being used as a desktop for the pi 5, should I just get a mini pc instead?

 

Can I try stuff like using it as a server and the other stuff people do on a pi?

[Needfuldoer]

If you're just doing Linux software stuff, the Lenovo is much more computer for your money. It can do everything the Pi can do software-wise, it's just bigger and doesn't have the easy-access IO pins.

[artisuke]

I agree with @Needfuldoer. If you don't need a Raspberry Pi for it's specific features, and any PC will work, then the Lenovo will do just as good, if not better.

[Biohazard777]

37 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

Can I try stuff like using it as a server and the other stuff people do on a pi?

For server stuff, you are better off on the x86 platform than ARM (simply because not all server-related projects include arm builds).
So yeah that Lenovo ThinkCentre would be a better choice for that.
 
That being said, the 4th gen intel in that ThinkCentre is quite old... so old it doesn't have HW accelerators for HEVC & VP9 decode.
IMO the sweet spot for old, but still very useful is:

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Hardware/QuickSync

I can find Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q Tiny with i3 9100T CPUs locally for ~130$, so yeah it will cost more than what you've got here,
and the regional pricing might differ a lot, but if you will be using it for media consumption (or worse, transcoding... like plex/jellyfin server) you want that HW acceleration.

 

37 minutes ago, VirusDumb said:

and make things,

Raspberry PI 5 falls "nicely" in that category where it is overpowered & overpriced for most small electronics projects (like reading sensor values, controlling ePaper displays, etc.), and yet underpowered & lacking IO compared to a mini PC for general purpose stuff.
You can find much cheaper SBCs or microcontrollers for hobby electronics projects that will do the job just fine, depending on what you mean by "things".

[VirusDumb]

18 hours ago, Biohazard777 said:

but if you will be using it for media consumption (or worse, transcoding... like plex/jellyfin server) you want that HW acceleration.

the best i could find without running over my budget apart from that one is a i3 6100t, i do want to connect it to my tv sometimes to play games on a bigger screen, but i mostly will use it to mess around with different OS, try to mess around by using it as a server, my current PC is rocking a i3 3210 and a gt 730 btw