FWIW once I started deploying my Pis with automotive-grade SD cards bought from Arrow and Canakit 5.1v PSUs, all the stability & integrity issues completely disappeared. Costs a bit more, bringing the price of a setup closer to a used SFF HP or whatever, but it’s super stable.
Whether we should feel bound to go to such lengths is another topic…
Yeah, that's what kills me with rpis. Yes they're cheap... until you add a chassis, a safe SD card, a 1st party power supply that won't give you the dreaded voltage warning icon, etc.
I don't regret owning some since they basically taught me to do Linux adminning, but the shopping experience is a bit like buying an airline ticket.
Yep, I often wonder how the story would've gone if they'd put a little cap and some circuitry on to make sure the SD card would come down gracefully, and configured the power circuitry so the Pi is comfortable running on a little less than 5v.
Whether we should feel bound to go to such lengths is another topic…