> However it might actually be the inferior gaming machine for CPU/main RAM intense strategy or simulation games (e.g. Stellaris). On Stellaris I remember having a pretty good experience (not stellar) playing on a 2012 AMD FX-8350 desktop cpu. The six year old midrange laptop cpu Ryzen 4650u smokes that desktop cpu. https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/1780vs3766/AMD-FX-8350-... Just to draw out the fact that with the Steam machine you will have a better Stellaris experience than what I had 7-8 years ago. (Because I assume even better performance than this laptop class cpu) My thoughts go more on the question if 15GB ram 8GB VRAM is enough for the next 7 years. And if Steam verified will all be split up, and become more confusing, between the 3 different devices they have.
Neutral
I rely on laptops provided by corporations I work at, so here's the breakdown of the remaining electronics: 1) samsung s10 (2014) -> iphone 8 (2018) -> iphone 13 mini (2022) -> no replacement planned since Apple dropped mini lineup. 2) gaming pc: amd fx-8350 (2012) -> i7-6700k (2016) -> 7800x3d (2023) -> hopefully no replacement till 2027 3) tablet: nexus 7 (2012) -> galaxy tab s3 (2018) -> ipad pro 2021 (2022) -> unless battery completely dies earlier than in 4 years like it happened with nexus 7 (making it stationary device). So overall, my update cycle is every 4 years on avg, with PC upgrades having longer cycles thanks to exceptional performance of the chosen platform at the time I.e. I still have i7-6700k working at another location and delivering strong both for productivity and gaming use cases.
Likes it
Fwiw, I have 3 ThinkPad t420 and t420s running around the household, used daily, they're at about a decade. Just replaced my main desktop which was fx8350, but that computer is now on its 2nd life with a friend and shows no signs of stopping. There was a time when 10 year old computer was absolute rubbish. These days, if you upgrade from spinning drive to ssd, 10 year old well made computers are just fine :) Basically, in 3 decades of personal computing, I never had a CPU failure other than that one time I crushed atlon xp with the heatsink :O