the cloud is just a landlord for your data (source)

He’ll have people renting oxygen in 10 years. If you don’t earn enough social credit points, they’ll shut your oxygen off.

I think that’s the best option if you want to play PC games but you have a Mac. Steam is pushing for Windows game compatibility on Linux, but most Linux users run computers that were shipped with Windows (i.e. they originally gave money to Microsoft). Apple has been half-assing it for years. Game Porting Toolkit exists, but basically the best way to play games on Mac bare-metal is to pay a subscription to Crossover, which costs about the same as GeForce Now, which lets you play on a more capable rig. Good if you can handle the latency (this is going to depend on where you live). And if you don’t mind a subscription.

It also begs the question if you should be a Mac user if you’re into gaming. I’ve always been a gamer, and I’ve always liked Apple’s computers. I also have an Xbox and a Switch. I do not presently subscribe to GeForce Now (or Crossover).

The M4 Mac mini was $480 around the holidays. It’s more like $500 now. That’s got 16GB of RAM, but you can’t upgrade it. It’s all on one chip, including the built-in 256GB SSD (which you should expand with external options). So computers can be had for not that much money. If you want something beefier, I think in the $1500 range, you can still get a bit more out of something running Intel, like an i5, especially if it’s a year or two old. I just like Macs, but they’re not always the best deal.