[bigyabai]

> Why aren’t these folks going towards cloud solutions?

They are. The majority aren't doing inference on a Mac Mini, but instead using it as a local host for cloud-based inference. You could have the same general experience on a $200 Chromebook or $300 Windows box.

[JSR_FDED]

Not if you want to use Messages to talk to it.

[bigyabai]

If you refuse to abandon iMessage for $300 in MSRP savings, you are beyond helping.