You don't need a 5090 to run local AI. A whole lot of people out there are doing it with Macs. Unified ram is the biggest thing.

Correct. If the premise doesn't hold, it's ex falso quodlibet for anyone.

I'm running Qwen 27B no problem with an AMD 9070XT + 24gb DDR5 ram. Does basic web search for me (tool call with tavily, costs nothing I get 1000 searches a month) and is great for creative writing (primarily breaking writer's block). Until the recent surge in ram costs, that wouldn't be hard to do. I built the computer for ~$1600 a year ago.

Back in “the day” nerds just bought the hardware to fuck with. Some of us still do. Claiming that compute is the barrier to entry just means you’re not a nerd. That’s ok.