The cheaper PCs don't have strong graphic cards which I needed to run Plex and hardware transcoding and other few ML tasks that I occasionally do but that was only a smaller factor.
Nowadays, it's even more important b/c I refuse to keep an AI model on my mac mini in case it gets compromised.
For non-AI, non-AAA gaming needs, I was able to get an RX560 GPU module[1] for my EliteDesk, which I use for Minecraft (It is mutually exclusive with its 2.5" HDD/SSD bay, but I just have an nvme drive in that).
[1] this part: https://www.ebay.com/p/13066999150?iid=277828413614