But if you were buying the components today, would you be saving much in comparison? And are Raspi4 available again or still supply chain hell?
Discussion
You can also run a proper Sparrow setup on the Linux laptop. To my knowledge you can't run Sparrow on a RPi node.
You can always buy two RPI4 (I have one for movies) or from the difference just buy some sats and that will compensate for force-closure channels or any future hardware failures.
Still supply chain hell. And just not worth $75 compared to what's available on the used mini PC or laptop market.
Ok, then compare the size and the power usage too. Still I think its an overkill. And it's not fair to compare a used laptop (which wear is unknown) to a brand new stuff. BTW where I checked its on stock.