I’ve been tossing the idea around to set up a cheap mini NUC-like box, like a Beelink or something similar. About the same prices as an Apple TV or higher end Roku, and you can either use Windows, Linux, or even Android on it. Just needs a convenient remote to navigate it without needing to hook up a mouse and keyboard, or gamepad, and it would be a great little set top box.
Also I’m kind of surprised there aren’t more Linux distros for this already. We’ve got gaming console-like dedicated distros in Batocera, Lakka, RetroPi, Recall Box, etc. even stuff like SteamOS, or customized clones like Bazzite, Holo and Chimera. Where’s the TV focused OS? The closest I see are typically just running Kodi on boot, which is ok I guess, but I want something more like an all-around HTPC where Kodi is just an application I launch when I want to watch something, rather than the sole UI.
I do love the Deck, but the answer is really up to you. If you genuinely don’t think you’ll ever use it handheld, then I would recommend a similarly priced, but likely higher speced, gaming laptop. Or even something like a mini PC with USB 4 that you could upgrade with an external GPU. The APUs on the new Ryzen chips would already outperform a Steam Deck so you’d already be getting a little better experience for about the same cost, and then when you feel like you need more oomf, add an eGPU.
BUT, if there’s any thought that you might need handheld mode sometimes, like say wife or kids need the TV for their shows but you want to get some gaming in, instead. Or maybe you do occasionally have to take a business trip, even if it’s not often, and think it might be nice having a gaming system with you for the flight or when chilling in the motel after work. If you do see occasional use for handheld, then yeah I’d recommend a Steam Deck in a heartbeat.