Most consumers would do fine with like .25 Apple M1's worth of compute.
It's generally very usable util you open firefox and browse a modern website. Chrome/chromium aren't any better.
The issue with old hardware is web browser and web pages, particularly web pages. Modern websites are incredible resource drains, it's unbelievable.
I can easily read documentation from old-school cool websites like https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/ but anything fancier than that gets the fan wheels spinning...
I would also sumbit that the person who is still using a computer from 2011 would never have bought an i7 in the first place. They’re not going to follow an upgrade path where they say “I had a core i3 in 2011 that is too slow now so I’ll replace it with something that had a 2011 i7 that I couldn’t justify purchasing at the time.” Instead they’re more likely to say “I bought this laptop 15 years ago and I’ve battered the hell out of it and I’ve been frugal and it’s time for a new one,” and when they buy that new one it will also be a very modest configuration.
So the fact that a top of the line processor from 15 years ago is still serviceable is not really all that relevant. It’s going to not even be worth it on power consumption alone if you’re running it 24/7.
In other words, there’s more to a chip than raw performance.
I would love an x86 laptop that can operate at 5W or less, even if it isn't blazing fast. If they can squeeze more performance out of a CPU for the same power budget, why can't they make a CPU with the same capability with less power use?
The CPU alone can operate below 5W:
Phoronix shows the AMD CPU going toward 7w but its specs say it can only go down to 15w. How does that work?
ROG Ally like devices seem to be running their CPUs in these lower ranges, so there's a decent expectation of stability.
A laptop running below 5W needs to turn down its storage, RAM, GPU, LAN, WiFi, USB controllers, etc. The OS needs to act more like a smartphone, put everything to sleep, and use consolidated polling and interrupts for async behaviors.
I think this is the real advantage Apple has with their vertical integration. They can play a lot of complementary games between hardware and OS.
The issue with those cpus is that they're pretty much never used in laptops meant to do anything serious. They usually are employed into cheap plastic laptops using ridiculous batteries.
I would really like the form factor of 2011-2013 thinkpads, with the chonky 90WHr battery on the back and the 12" form factor.
With a modern cpu (low tdp and low power draw) that would be unbeatable everyday carry.
ARM faking x86 is probably the way to go for this case.
I guess maybe 35w covers usage plus recharging the battery, so actual consumption is 15w?
Even if you're a gamer performance on the desktop has eclipsed demand so much that you can play anything on a few years old machine. It used to be way worse in the "olden" days when only 10% of people had a system that was able to play Crysis.