I don’t think that’s the only reason to use one. They also have value as a well known and well supported hardware target even in cases where the GPIOs aren’t needed. For example, the hobby 3D printer community uses them extensively for things like Octoprint where the GPIOs aren’t needed - but the Pi continues to be much more popular than other options because it’s very well supported. A user doesn’t need to figure out any CLI magic to get things to work, they can just grab a pre-made SD card image and go to town. And if they do have a problem, it’ll probably be the same problem that a few thousand other people have had, so solutions will be well documented.
> They also have value as a well known and well supported hardware target even in cases where the GPIOs aren’t needed
true, there are cases, but "well known" and "well supported" is the point i tried to make in favor of enterprise thin-clients and the like as they are pc's and run most commodity operating systems and applications.
> hobby 3D printer community uses them extensively
