I think, though, maybe consider your biases? Whenever I see a headline like this, I absolutely don't assume it's going to run on any random laptop. I don't even expect it to run well, or at all, on my laptop (for stuff that isn't Mac-only, that is), which has an iGPU. I'm generally a big LLM/AI skeptic, but I find your brand of cynicism/dismissal to be kinda boring and uninteresting.
In any case, I do not think that the range of people that have an M1/2/3/4 max macbook is that narrow, eg people who may do video editing or who benefit from having one of the fastest multicore laptops. It is handy to be able to do work with a machine you already may own for separate reasons, though it is definitely more to the side of a "pro device" than "basic consumer device".
I would say it is in reach for normal person. If anything buying it was great investment, it is work tool, I will probably sell it for more than what I bought it for :)
That is a very wealthy country centric thing to say.