Hi Ben,
You work alot with consoles, which i think i great, but i come a cross laptops with broken screens and other faults.
i have used one for a media center and another as a server.
there are many laptop for sale cheaply, which could get a second life.
My suggetions are
1. media center / retro games center
take a laptop with broken screen,
strip it doneto make i smaller,
perhaps remove hhd and use sd card in sata adaptor,
make new case,
move usb to front, move other connection like ethernet, vga,hdmi, audio, usb
if laptop only has vga out, the add vga to hdmi converter
if the laptop has bluetooth a xbox controller could connect to it else add a bluetooth module
build in powersupply
install linux/windows , with kodi and retro gaming
2. all-in-one pc
you can get a 23-24"monitor cheaply, some even with build in speakers
take laptop with broken screen
strip it down
make new case for screen and laptop
build in laptop powersupply, perhaps share with monitor
move usb to front of screen
perhaps build in wireless keyboard receiver, or put a usb port i convinet place to hold the usb receiver which many wireless keyboard/mouse uses
Love the show
Jesper Solholm Jensen
Denmark