Comment by themafia
> I'd prefer a "low-end" workstation with 32GB memory, but because of the price point I can only afford a 16GB non-workstation one. I don't do gaming any more but I still prefer a good integrated video card.
I started buying 4x4 mini PCs. They're exactly what you describe. For $600 I got an 8 core AMD Ryzen 7 8745H with 96GB of RAM from Minisforum. The graphics aren't half bad and the overall system has been really good. It's even got better thermal performance than the Intel 4x4 I had previously and generally runs 10C cooler for the same workloads.
If you don't absolutely need a "backpack portable" computer I can only highly recommend them.
Thanks, it sounds interesting. I don't really need the portability of a laptop I think. Whenever I get out, I'm usually with my family, so I actually got very little time spent on the laptop. Plus I have a few laptops already.
I'll check out those mini PCs. The Steam one also looks interesting.