Currently for displays, but with Edge Apps you will be able to run workloads that interfaces with sensors etc over GPIO (and USB/Serial).

thanks for responding!

I feel like Raspberry pi has one leg up regarding gpio.

I have never tried to do gpio from windows (E.g. belink)

I am sure it is possible with usb adapters, but then you are dealing with changing come ports etc

Yeah the built-in GPIO on the Raspberry Pi is nice indeed. You can get PCs with GPIO too tho. If you look for 'industrial gateways' you'll find a number of them, but they are a bit more pricey. Alternatively, you can use a GPIO over USB, but that comes with own set of challenges.