As a software professional, spending $8k on an RTX 6000 Blackwell was a reasonable investment in tools. I've learned so much, and now I have "free" Qwen3.8 Flash Next at NVFP4. I'm still using my M1 Macbook Max which was $5k. I don't think is unreasonable money for a professional. Would I pay the current price of $16k for the knowledge I've gained? I think I would. Luckily I got in early.

Hobbyist, sure, too expensive for most? OTOH as a kid, my parents sweated to accumulate $5k worth of computer (and 5.25" drives!) in today's dollars, so that investment paid off.