ARM servers already happened; they're in production at AWS and probably MS. Most of the software development is already done; since developers wouldn't buy $6000 machines they just got access to them for free.
Is there a consensus pick for the best ARM system around $1,000? I'm not looking for my main workstation, just something usable for building and running ARM software, and maybe acting as a host for ARM containers. I've seen a few options:
Jetson AGX Xavier developer kit - 8 cores, 32 GB, for $700
HoneyComb LX2K mini-ITX motherboard - 16 cores, up to 64 GB, $750
96Boards Developerbox (Socionext) - 24 cores, 32+ GB, $1,200
I'd like a little more than the 4 cores and 4 GB you can get with a Jetson Nano or Raspberry Pi 4.
This was probably the case back when home assembled assembled desktop PCs were a big part of the software developer user base, but nowadays the important dev platforms are laptops and Digitalocean/GCP/EC2.
There is nothing anywhere near the performance of what I can get right now by buying a $110 motherboard from one of the top six Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers, and a $150 Ryzen 3000 series to socket into it.
Linux and *BSD developers are not going to be shelling out $6000 for a 2U rackmount noisy system that's impossible to operate nicely in their home offices.