I'm not arguing for the Pi4, I'm arguing for the rk3588. On aliexpress it's $119 with 8GB ram, and $139 with a nice CNC machined metal fanless case.

I've seen decent x86's, but matching the spec (case, 8GB ram, 2x2.5G, usb-c power supply, fanless, etc) leads to some pretty old x86's and higher prices. Not to mention that I'm far from convinced that chips like the celeron N4020 are an upgrade, even ignoring power efficiency.