I tried a Steam Deck but ended up selling it. Coming from high-end PC gaming from my younger days, the Deck just wasn't quite enough, between the low-medium graphics and the lack of mouse/keyboard + big monitor (yes, you can dock it, but then you're running at a super low FPS even on ultra-low settings, especially without DLSS support). It was also really loud. These days I usually play with GeForce Now, which can do ultra graphics with minimal lag, works great on my ultrawide, is totally silent, and doesn't eat up the battery.

In fact GFN works so well I ended up getting a Logitech GCloud (https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/cloud-gaming/cloud-...) to replace the Deck, because it has a much better screen, battery life, and is like half the weight. It only streams games though (cheap Android hardware) and has sketchy ties to Tencent, unfortunately. But for anywhere with good internet, it's wonderful... ultra graphics on a nice screen in a lightweight and quiet form factor.

As for dev on Linux, yeah, that sounds right! I use Adobe less and less these days, frankly, but I do really enjoy any chance I get. Used to do a lot of graphics work with the dev work, before my job became super-specialized :( Right now I'm really happy with my Macbook, but if ARM ever gains a foothold in the PC laptop market and we see better hardware (especially performance/watt and decibels/performance) in the future, I'd reconsider that. Apple Silicon is pretty phenomenal for the time being... blows my old ThinkPads out of the water.