There are a dozen or more (mostly Chinese) manufacturers coming out with mini PCs based on that Ryzen AI Max+ 395 platform, like for example the Bosgame M5 AI Mini for just $1699 with 128GB. Just pointing out that this configuration is not a Framework exclusive.

That's true. Going for pure compute value, it does seem you can do even better. Last I looked at Strix Halo products all else I could find seemed like laptop announcements, and laptops are obviously going to generally be even more expensive.