> These days, can "ordinary people" afford 24GB of ram and half a TB of NVME ssd?

You can, right now, buy a brand new Mini-PC at or above this spec for $600 at retail [1]

Of course, if you want it in a desktop format with a much faster CPU, its going to cost you more.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/GMKtec-M6-Ultra-Upgraded-Computers/dp...