I've worked in or with at least three of those. 8GB and integrated GPU is not going to cut it for a decent load on any of the basic apps.. Pro Tools will eat 8GB easily on a basic mix, Ableton will have you track freezing on and off all day. A lot of people in the audio industry went nuts when Apple stopped letting you add RAM because you could hardly have a serious production machine without maxing it out. After Effects, C4D, Blender, etc. will be rendering for a week straight (if at all). Photoshop will grind to a halt trying to work on anything of reasonably high res, especially with more than a few layers. Ever sat there watching a progress bar for a minute or two just to crop an image? That's what you're proposing as "well spec'd".
Your point about non creative professionals does hold water, though - that's the main audience IMO, the tech clueless types who are nevertheless obsessed with being involved with a "premium" brand. And yep, if you just want a couple spreadsheets, some social media, and maybe some reports, they're spec'd phenomenally for that kind of thing.