Well, I thought I'd have to download an image of the OS and flash it to the SD card; it turns out there was already a variation of NOOBS on there. I got a case, heat sink, micro USB to USB plug and mini HDMI to HDMI plug, plus the power supply, so I could easily set it up with a monitor and mouse&keyboard. I only had a choice of one OS until I connected to WIFI, then I had a whole list (I chose raspberry pi OS without recommended software to pick and choose exactly what I want). After the install and update, I enabled SSH and VNC to long onto the pi with my phone, didn't need the keyboard or monitor anymore. Set the resolution for headless in raspi-config and went to bed. Now I'm all set to just power it up and control it with my phone through VNC viewer or through juiceSSH. I'm thinking plugging it in to a sound system in the basement; I'm also wondering if it could replace a chromecast. There's also the option of it being a small public NAS for sharing stuff with friends who come over. Pi's are so friggin' fun.

I quite agree. I wasn't attempting to disparage the Pi4, only to agree that the 4 isn't quite ready to replace your PC. I use it as my media center because it only draws 1 watt of power so I can leave it on 24/7. However, it really struggles to play back full screen video. I basically reduced the resolution until it can render videos without skipping.