Usually it should fail over and just use the iGPU, but if worst comes to worst shorting the CMOS clear jumper on your motherboard with a screwdriver or something else metal will reset the settings and get you back in.

For the iGPU issue, there should be an option in your setup utility/BIOS on your motherboard that either allows you to disable the iGPU entirely (usually in the settings for CPU or chipset, can vary from board to board), or (in the case of my Asrock board at least) there is a “dGPU only” mode that automatically disables the iGPU when a dGPU is detected. For the RGB, since the 9070XT is a partner only card (so many different manufacturers make them), the RGB implementations can vary a lot between models as there is no standard design (would be wise to edit your post to say which specific brand and model of card you have in case other people with that brand have experience with it). It might be worth just installing openRGB anyway and seeing what it detects automatically, as it could pick it up.

Same on AMD as well. vaapi acceleration, after installing the appropriate packages, works nearly flawlessly on all brands of GPU I have tried.

Definitely agree on the used ThinkPad. You can get some surprising deals from businesses offloading even relatively recent machines that are still in very good condition (used to daily drive a T14 Gen 3 that was half the price of when it was new despite being only two years old and still in warranty). However, new ones do still retain very good compatibility (no issues on my P14s Gen 5), although the price point does make a Framework the obvious other option to look at, especially due to the better upgrade and repair situation (soldered WiFi modules on newer ThinkPads are really annoying).

I use Pika Backup (GUI that uses Borg Backup on the backend) to back up my desktop to my home server daily, then overnight that server has a daily backup using Borg to a Hetzner Storage Box. It’s easy to set it and forget it (other than maybe verifying the backups every once in a while), and having that off site back up gives me peace of mind.

Definitely agree. The KDE spin used to have some quirks and bugs, but have been running it on my laptop as a daily driver for nearly six months with no real issues and it is rock solid reliable. Fedora also has a ton of community and commercial support so pretty much any Linux app will work fine on there.