Plex isn't that demanding, but yea you want something desktop or mid-range laptop grade for the CPU. And you really shouldn't spend that much time worrying about transcoding. In the earlier days of Plex it played a bigger role since many devices couldn't natively playback MKV files, which is the most popular format for movie releases. But now almost every device that Plex makes an app for can handle them, so it will direct play in most instances. Transcoding is really only useful now if you're on a mobile device and don't want to chew through your data
Also on the topic of transcoding, it's highly advised to not transcode 4K media. Not only is it insanely CPU intensive which can bring even beefy setups to their knees, a transcoded 4K video will lose HDR which will make the video look dull and washed out. If you use Plex mainly on mobile devices it's recommended to stick to 1080p, or setup 4K stuff in their own libraries
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