Goal: Non-technical native TV experience with streaming, live TV, live sports

I recently bought an Onn 4K Pro directly from Walmart. I've set it up with the following:

• Downloader (for VPN and other apps)
• CinemaHQ (for live TV)
• Stremio/Nuvio (for streaming shows and movies)
• TFlix and Norofire (for live sports)

I also have an old laptop running Linux Mint hooked up to my TV. I bought an integrated keyboard and mouse to navigate, where I use fmhy.net to stream stuff, mostly TV/movies and live sports (haven't found reliable live TV channels).

Question: Is a streaming box better, or old laptops?

I want to set this up so my family can use it too, so it needs to be as easy and non-technical as possible. I want to give family members boxes or laptops that they can easily use with this setup (or something similar).

This is actually why I started using Nuvio, since you can set up profiles and the configuration carries over to every device (so I wouldn't need to set up 5+ devices manually).

I would think that the Onn boxes are best for this, but I have several concerns:

1. You need a Google account to set it up.
2. Google is cracking down in ways that would affect "sideloading" particularly on Google devices (Onn runs Google TV).

If I can continue finding some old hardware (Thinkpads, Macbooks) for ~$125 or less, is it worth it to have an old laptop instead of a brand new streaming box? What do you think would be a good price range for hardware in this case? And how old is "too old"?