A weaker dollar is also a likely reason that is not mentioned in the article.

I’ve got it running for a few weeks now. Seems very nice

It seems like you answered your own question: go with the steam deck.

Nice list of suggestions, but implementing all of them feels a little over-the-top.

I don’t really get the love for fail2ban. Sure, it helps keep your logs clean, but with a solid SSH setup (root disabled, SSH keys enforced), I’m not bothered by the login attempts.