You can get a used Intel nuc on eBay for like $50, keep 2 flashdrives on you, 1 for important files you don't want to loose, the other a fresh install of your Linux distro. That way you can experiment to your hearts content and reinstall every time things stop working, it works for me.
Discussion
Got a Pi 3 and 4 I’m not using
This points out what I need to learn 
