> These devices take 10W idle & 80W while running compute heavy tasks like stable diffusion/LLM using it's unified memory - magical.
That... sounds like you're describing the average Ryzen APU? My 8-core 5800u feels pretty similar to an M1 Mac Mini in most respects, besides the fact it's in a laptop.
Does the performance per watt on a mini desktop matter all that much at this scale? Don't get me wrong, it's impressive what ARM is able to pull off, but unless energy prices are crazy high in your area I've never really understood why it matters all that much. Also, the 5800U is 3 years old at this point. Hardly a fair comparison.
TBF In California as of the new year, energy prices are in the range of $0.40/kWh - $0.52/KWh (depending time of day, with 4-8pm being considered peek). In the summer the rates are higher, with peek being about $0.72/kWh.
The MX chips are ARM so the idle draw is probably better on the Mac, but for most tasks I don't understand how the Ryzen would be disqualified. It's probably the best low-power x86 solution on the market right now; you're missing out if you haven't seen what the Steam Deck can do at 10w.
