I'm sure I could resolve this issue with a little bit of tweaking but this is another example of the challenges anyone using a PPC system will face.
It's not an issue of whether uMatrix makes it easy to change. It's an issue of knowing what the issue is an therefore making the change.
I could see your point there for a while, but your argument becomes increasingly untenable.
Let's say computing technology exists on a moving ribbon of sorts. The PPC Mac community is on that ribbon, but like all computing technology, it cannot keep up with the ribbon's pace. The trailing edge is some distance behind us, and it's a ragged edge, because those who continue to successfully utilize "obsolete" equipment fray it here and there. But we're somewhere near the back, and as the leading edge advances, the trailing edge gets closer to us. This is true of all computing, no matter where on the ribbon a particular technology/user group finds itself at any given point in time. Some make valiant efforts to anchor themselves in place and force the ribbon to stretch instead of leaving them behind, but invariably the trailing edge of obsolescence creeps up on them. Such is technology.
The point is, no matter what kind of computer you suggest to the "average" user, by taking your advice they will inevitably get left behind. They'll have to continue seeking your, or others', help...
unless they gain knowledge and develop skills to keep their equipment useful. To paraphrase a proverb, it's the difference between someone being given a fish, or gaining knowledge needed to fish for themselves.
No Mac, not even an Intel-powered one, is a good choice for someone unwilling to learn. I have early Intel Macs in my stable right now that struggle online nearly as much as my PPC systems unless I use tricks like uMatrix/hosts files/etc. If I want more current and secure browsing options I have to use community-developed hacks to get later versions of OS X onto them, or switch to Linux. This will become true of every Mac manufactured today, unless Apple changes their business model. It's just a matter of time.
If the hypothetical "average" user lacks both financial resources and a willingness to learn, there are systems that will serve their needs, but certainly not a Mac. Used Android devices and Win10-capable computers are available practically everywhere for next to nothing, or often nothing at all. If the user is willing to accept whatever their wireless carrier and/or Google/Microsoft gives them, then their needs are met. When the device is no longer supported, they just repeat the process.
I'm not advocating such. I'm just saying your proposed solution - pointing someone toward a used Intel Mac so they won't have to try so hard - isn't really a solution at all. The answer doesn't lie in a particular kind of hardware, but in knowledge. Case in point: this very day I've had to put on my IT hat because my wife (a teacher) is now working from home, and her school district's sole IT guy is swamped. I've had to deal with the school's hardware and my own, with two different Windows versions and OS X El Cap, to cobble together some sort of solution that gets her access to the resources she needs. I'm no tech genius, I didn't know what to do, but I've learned enough to know where to look to figure things out, and it got us by when we needed it. What you seem to consider an "average" user - which, frankly, I once was - couldn't have coped, regardless of what hardware they were using.
