Respectfully, I don't understand this. They never needed Next.js for a static blog.
This is like writing a post about how I didn't need a Ferrari to commute to work and I saved money by taking the bus.
I think we should blame the elders for teaching people new to the trade wrong.
Because "heavyweight SPA for a static blog" isn't exactly a rare problem.
It's more like they realised they can also commute by bike or foot never realizing before that that was even an option
exactly just use a ssg like zola/hugo and call it a day smh
Next.js supports fully static export, so they should have went with that.
I run a dynamic website on nextjs static export - landingpages and docs are fully static, login and user dashboard use REST calls to a non-nextjs backend. Blazing fast, no nodejs or SSR in production.