this is my take-away too. RISC-V in a laptop was unthinkable just a few years ago, now it's a reality (at least a prototype) and performance is underwhelming,

this is my take-away too. RISC-V in a laptop was unthinkable just a few years ago, now it's a reality (at least a prototype) and performance is underwhelming, just like it has been for ARM before. For a true "freedom machine" I would be perfectly fine with a performance trade-off but it's also not a given that the gap will be so wide forever. This is an excellent step and to show that it's functioning is huge.