> why would a thick client ever be better than a thin client?

Because thick client distribute the load among many computer. With a thin client all that load is way more centralised.

> I would never attempt to train a PyTorch

No one is asking you to do that. We're talking about Mighty, a thin client that:

- runs a beefy VM in the cloud

- runs a single app, Chrome, in that VM

- streams video to the client

If a million people run Chrome on their laptops and keep it open for the entire day (and your browser is usually open throughout the day), that's... just a million people with their laptops.

If a million people run Chrome through Mighty, Mighty needs a million VMs always open, and a million video streams, also always open.

See how a thick client is better than a thin client?