First of all, there are no bullet proof solutions, and although hardware wallets are safer they are not invincible, as we recently hear about a vulnerability with the ledger wallet, that is supposed to be one of the safest wallets, on pair with trezor. Not so long ago we also heard about the vulnerability with electrum, that is also one of the most respectable desktop wallets. You only mentioned bitcoin, but there are reports of problems with wallets for other coins as well.
I agree that everything has downsides, but hardware wallets are still far and away your best choice if you want to keep your coins secure. There hasn't ever been any vulnerability to any hardware wallet yet that lets people steal
remotely from them. That means if you keep your hardware wallet physically safe, it's essentially hacker-proof.
As for Electrum, but it has to be noted that there are no confirmed cases of losses due to the vulnerability -- either because it was patched too quickly, or because any password protected wallet was still somewhat protected anyway.
All in all, I'd say hacking, specifically, is much more of a problem for exchanges, but not the regular users who know how to protect themselves.