For what its worth my keyboard has two pi-based chips on it and they run cool to the touch. It is a rp2040 based pi. I dont actually know the details of the chip only that it has a raspberry pi symbol on it.
These chips (I can link you on amazon) might be a decent replacement (you need to check im just speculating herE).
This is true, but it doesnt sound like he needs much.
They aremt drop in interchangable. But if he hasnt actually coded up anything yet, and does not need the power of a SBC, then doing a low-level <CU approach is just as viable as a higher level SBC approach.
@freemo @darth It really depends on what is needed, but I think they said it was acting as a networking interface or something which sounds to me complex enough it may fall under the SBC requirement of things. Regardless, I don't really think this is the answer. As I said, the RPi ZeroW should not be idling that hot even in an enclosure. One way or the other I think something is up and solving that aspect may be more important. (You don't want even old PC hardware running > 60C minimum!)
@freemo @darth Maybe, but there is a world of difference between a simplistic Arduino-style device and a single board computer. The SBC is essentially a whole (albeit weak) computer, whereas the Arduino is a device with much more simplistic capabilities. You can't even use the same code. It depends on what it's doing. Handling a keyboard is a great task for an Arduino-like device and bad for a SBC, and conversely running LAN firewall/NAT is great for a SBC and not viable for an Arduino.