Internal linking: contextual vs non-contextual

Hello fellow SEOs, today I want to ask your opinion on internal links.

Lets consider two scenarios:

1. We do our internal linking from the body of the article, contextually embedded in your content using exact match anchors.

2. We do our internal linking from the body of the article, by using a section with 2-3 links using exact match anchors. Example below.

Also read:
- Link #1
- Link #2
- Link #3

Scenario 1 is going to be the one that moves the needle the most, we know this.

But does it move the needle enough that it makes it worth the time to invest in finding/creating these linking opportunities?

I personally use the option 2 because it's straight forward and can be automated.

What are your thoughts on this? Should I revise my judgment and take the time to contextually link?

I think you answered your own question.
Agree, scenario 1 better but scenario 2 is much easier to implement.
I use LinkWhisper and it's still not so easy to inter-link pages, so doing it manually is quite time consuming.

You can go with both options as i am doing it on my sites similarly.

Both work just fine in my opinion

Both are fine. However, I would also suggest that you include context even in the #2
for example:
You can read more on TOPIC 1 HERE
You can read more on TOPIC 2 HERE

Given that Google looks at the context as well, bots will realize the connection between the topic and the link, even though the anchor is: here

I'm doing both and I agree it's very time consuming to find such opportunities but LinkWhisper mentioned by @praetserge is worth a look if it helps in the process. So, I think it is better to mix them. Also, I was reading somewhere that building multiple resource pages with common interest subheadings with links to the corresponding pages and small summaries of each helps in the process. This might be something you might want to look into as well.

A contextual link is the clickable text (usually the keywords) found within the written content of your webpage