I almost entirely agree with your post, though I'll note that the Apple II was unique specifically because it came pre-assembled in a plastic case and was marketed to "regular people". Still, obviously most users were hobbyists, just less "hardcore" than those who assembled their own Altairs.
I thought the original Apple (Apple I) was the version that came as a kit.
Wikipedia agrees. The circuit board was complete, but the purchaser needed to "build the case".
However, to make a working computer, users still had to add a case, power supply transformers, power switch, ASCII keyboard, and composite video display
