Yeah, “Don’t trust Wikipedia” always has been like “don’t trust books” because it literally is at least on par and even references sources. We literally can’t do original research on everything ourselves and even just verifying the sources is infeasible for most topics because it’s not just a list but a forest of deep-rooted trees. It takes decades to learn to know what’s real and what’s just a commonly believed lie. Sometimes someone proves the empirically validated assumptions of the past wrong, and then we get new tech like GPS… That said: Don’t trust AI. It’s not as good as the humans filling Wikipedia - yet.

This is learned behavior though. It’s not obvious. I learned it from my parents. He obviously didn’t.

The “you are replaceable” thing is older than everyone currently alive. It hasn’t been invented by the AI tech bros.
Also, the library is still out there. You still can ignore the rent-seeking middle men and use it directly with your own natural neural network.

It was always a bit more expensive to insist on arbitrary counter-intuitive requirements like an arbitrarily tiny non-standard form factor.

There really is no actual benefit of that thing being that tiny. Obviously, there is space for a massive TV. That TV isn’t sitting on the floor. Logically there is a lot of space below that TV. Just put a desktop PC there.
And people actually had office-desktop-PC-sized VCRs in their media racks below their CRT TVs for a long time. There was space for that. And the classic HIFI towers which dominated living rooms two to three decades ago are massive compared to a desktop PC.

Handhelds are obviously a very different thing. It makes sense for them to be Steam-Deck-sized. The form factor actually makes sense for a mobile gaming device. It’s just the stationary mini PCs where the form factor is just the pain without any actual gain.

The hardware prices seem competitive. But the important note is hinting at the real form factor tax: It doesn’t have the same cost / performance ratio as a normally sized PC using the same hardware.

It’s a console-like device for people who want the full PC gaming experience without the large PC form factor. It comes with Steam OS preinstalled and 1080p60 on medium settings should be fine for the people who play on the couch with the large TV two to three meters away.
But I guess, it’s mainly sold to tiny form factor fetishists because it’s definitely not cheap, and you probably can just slap Steam OS on a used gaming PC.

It’s a hipster PC. Even if there wasn’t the current hardware pricing bubble, you’d still pay the form factor tax.

Just buy a cheap Chinese phone.