I guess my PoV is with a GPU + inexpensive RAM, I can do some things more quickly, and other things are at least possible. But granted, hardware nuts and bolts is a hobby for me too, I've always enjoyed researching and building systems, there is a huge community of people and companies, and I much prefer KDE to MacOS, Android to IOS.

If Apple released a reasonably priced system with lots of RAM, or that could take a GPU, I'd not have as much to stand on, but they don't seem inclined to do that.

Here's BoM, $2170:

$700 for 192GB https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Memory/VEN...

About $200 for a LGA1700 board with four slots (currently Asus and Gigabyte support 4 X 48GB memory modules on consumer hardware)

$200+ for a CPU

$120 for an 850 watt PSU

$700 for a used 16GB quadro, or a new 12GB A2000

$150 for 2TB NVME storage

$50 for some kinda case (I use an XTIA open frame, it is the opposite of a Macbook)

These are "best prices," You'd have to pay around 10% more if you're not into finding deals.