I really wanted to build a new PC this year, which is obviously not happening anymore. But I do have 2x16GB DDR5 SODIMMs from my laptop that I'm not using, after I upgraded to 64GB a while back. Now I wonder if I can build a tiny PC around those? Does anyone make motherboards that support DDR5 laptop memory?
A bunch of the NUC models use laptop RAM, and often have barebones kits. Looks like ASUS has a decent range of kits and prebuilt, but you may be able to find boards. If you want something expandable, look for the "Pro" and "Extreme" range. I had one of the first gaming-oriented NUC's a while back, Hades Canyon, highly capable.
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X600TM-ITX/index.asp
Can't find it for sale, though. There's also a barebones mini-PC:
https://www.asrock.com/nettop/AMD/DeskMini%20X600%20Series/i...
Minisforum offer a Mini-ITX board with a 16-core Zen4 AMD CPU soldered on for under $400. The AM5 socket version of that same CPU alone is over 500. It uses SO-DIMM DDR5 so might be an interesting option in your case. (Yes, it is a mobile CPU but it has the same amounts of L2/L3 Cache as the AM5 chip, just clocked 300MHz slower)
https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-motherboard