Intel Me-Enabled System Needed for Updating Arc Graphics GSC Firmware (phoronix.com)

This is exactly what I feared Intel would do: Sabotage their own hardware by tying them to their shrinking eco system. Which is crazy - I am rooting for Intel here to get more competition, but would never buy it given this behaviour.

But this is more than stupid self-sabotage: This is a vendor forcing the use of proprietary and surveillance enabling software on a hardware level to receive updates. Similar to what Android does with blocking backing apps on custom roms, but I don't think this happened yet on the PC platform. Dark future ahead.

pcie resizable bar also works only on intel hardware despite being standard pcie feature available for ~5 years now (Zen 1).

This is FUD. You did not need ME to update the firmware.