After 8 pages of debate, I'm still not sure what my takeaway is...
For someone who's not serious in crypto, just playing around in the exchanges with little money, is a hardware wallet worth it?
The questions becomes considerably more significant with larger amounts of money involved, for sure. But some of the solutions seem to just be facsimiles of banks and fiat monies - paper wallets, storing in safes, multiple layers of authenticities. Does this mean in the end, when there are clearer standards that we just revert to "banking systems" that are slightly more customer friendly?
A hardware wallet's worth to you might depend on how much crypto you own. If you won't lose sleep losing whatever you own in those exchanges, then you might not need a hardware wallet after all since it costs a considerable amount of money.