Also there is no shame in trades. I’ve met far too many engineers who became product managers because engineering is boring. Only software developers actually work “with their hands”. They just also do the engineering part before that. You might be really into soldering or building stuff for your garden or 3D printing your own cad designs but somebody else will do the actual building part. You’ll not create something start to finish. And if that’s what you’re into, you’ll probably be more successful at a trade with the knowledge that an engineer has (at least partially) than an engineer who wished he could actually get dirty.

At least in Germany trades offer an extensive educational track where you can further develop your skills and actually have the paper that says that you are more than blue color physical labor. If you look around here in my area at suburbs, a lot of the properties have while vans in front of it. A self employed electrician (for example) can be incredibly successful financially.

You need to spend a lot of money for a gaming laptop to be good. The are really a compromise if you absolutely cannot have a PC where you are. Especially now with the steam deck.