Every time I've ever owned a non gpu laptop, it's like I've always had to bring along either another laptop or a gaming console when on longer term trips or temporary moves. I don't care that gaming laptops are 0.2 inches thicker which somehow makes them 100% impractical to most people. I'd rather only have to bring 1 device with me.

Yeah, I used to work a job where I was basically on call for 6 hours at a time, but didn’t need to do much unless something broke. I’d help set things up at the top of the day then tear things down at the end. But in between, I was basically just waiting for things to break. It’s safe to say that I used the fuck out of my gaming laptop and VPN at my desk. Because I obviously didn’t want to try playing games on a company computer.

I played a lot of single player and idle games at that job, because those are easy to walk away from at a moment’s notice. Just hit pause and you can give your full attention to whatever problem has popped up. Then once it’s resolved, you’re right back where you left off.

I too used mine as a backup. I don't have a working one atm, but technically my steamdeck works for most of the games I'd want to keep up with, if a bit harder to use. I can even do ffxiv, though definitely less skilled using the steamdeck. I might try with a dock and my 8bitdo controller and see how that feels (already have both, but haven't really tested it since I use that controller for switch instead).

We have the best new scanners (I think they are CT scanners) at our airport. You don't have to take out anything anymore since their new scanners can scan it anyways, somehow. Apparently you can also take any amount of fluid with you and you just keep it in your bag, which is neat.