The Intel compute stick seems ideal for running Batocera or Lakka
other than that I’m not really sure how you’d use it as a server other than a learning experience. what all do you use the raspberry pi 4 to host? I know you can run a bunch of stuff on a pi, but I wouldn’t think about running my docker stack one even though I know you can. the same goes for the compute stick, you’re not going to want to run something heavy. does the does compute stick even function headless? that would be the first thing I’d check if you’re want to use it as some sort of server.
how does Jellyfin run for you on the Pi? I’m assuming you’re pretty much the only one using it? if not how many streams can you transcode at once? how is the network overhead and disk usage when accessing Gitea, Immich, NextCloud, and Jellyfin all at once?