Not half as scary as Apple's DEP program. Pretty much everyone is moving this way because it's super convenient for admins -- devices arrive out of the box working and configured. Google has "Zero Touch", Samsung as their Knox program.
I don’t understand about your point about Apple DEP. could you clarify? It’s predominantly used on company-owned laptops and requires an Apple company account or developer license to work. I haven’t seen it used for consumer computers.