RP4 has UASP, you can buy a SATA hat, and you can put it in a box with your drive if you don't want to look at it.
I have some netbooks lying around and I'd still prefer to buy an RP4 for little projects here and there. Reuse be damned I guess. For me, the main reasons to go with RP4 are gigabit ethernet, less power draw, less need for noisy fans, and a large community.
That would add $43.00 and $56 for the aluminium case though you'd have 4 SATA. Or start with external USB drive use 3d printing or duct tape to make DIY case.
I can't imagine Raspberry Pi community is bigger than Linux users on laptop and desktop. And how can one separate?
On a plus side of Raspberry Pi I would add GPIO with PWM, SPI, I2C and Serial.
I have some netbooks lying around and I'd still prefer to buy an RP4 for little projects here and there. Reuse be damned I guess. For me, the main reasons to go with RP4 are gigabit ethernet, less power draw, less need for noisy fans, and a large community.