I wouldn’t call current consoles “enticingly cheap”, but I see where you’re coming from and I agree with the stance that there’s essentially two (three if you want to include cloud and/or subscription-based) models with fairly different standards.
The PC ecosystem isn’t as resistant as we’d like to think imo, with its over-reliance on Steam vs other storefronts (but that’s kind of a moot point if you take into account piracy I guess).

Yep, if that hypothetical gamer doesn’t care about the “latest and greatest”, then they might be better served by a lower spec’d PC.