Great article! Like the author mentioned, I think ultimately it depends on many factors. If you've got cheap power and can get ahold of hardware to do so at a good price, the ROI on mining altcoin can be very quick and start netting actual profit reasonably soon.

Likewise, without those things, cloud mining is still a viable option in some cases, however I tend to be weary of cloud mining since you lose all control of your money until it is withdrawn.