Apple is a competitive choice simply because their unified memory allows you to get enough ram that would take multiple Gpus to have enough space to run larger models.
Yes, but their refusal to open up the ANE to third-party models negates that. You can get (or will be able to very soon) a Strix Halo Ryzen AI Max+ 395 able to access 96GB of unified RAM (on a 128GB system) for well under half what you'd pay for an equivalent M4 system from Apple.
Hobbyists don't use ANE on Apple Silicon and they won't use XDNA on Strix Halo either. In both cases the GPU is faster and can access most of system memory.
