I have no interest in running anything that uses iOS. I hate iOS.
Unfortunately Apple's vision of computing and my vision have diverged a lot over the past few years. I've stuck with Apple because the only alternative had been Windows, but not anymore. When my MacBook started to act up back in December, and businesses were locked down due to the pandemic, I dragged out my ancient HP laptop, and acting on the advice of some people whose opinions I respect, I installed Ubuntu. It was the easiest OS installation I've ever done. I had been expecting a half baked OS suitable only for computer geeks, and expected that I'd probably end up tossing it out in a week. But I decided to give it a fair shot. As it turned out, I've found it to be probably the most logically designed OS that I've ever used. Within a couple of weeks I was as comfortable using it as I am with a Mac (and I have 37 years of Mac experience). By contrast, if I'd been forced to use Windows for two weeks, I'd probably end up putting my fist through the screen.
One of the things that made the transition easy is that over the past few years I've been abandoning Apple's apps and going with third party apps that are available for multiple hardware platforms. When I installed Ubuntu, it came with LibreOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird preloaded. So I was immediately up and running with familiar software. These apps account for about 90% of what I do on a computer, and for the other 10%, there are apps that are nearly equivalent to what I used on Mac. (One exception is Vectorworks which doesn't have a Linux version yet.) The reason why I've been abandoning Apple's apps is that Apple has become notorious for abandoning their own apps. Example: iWeb. Other Apple software such as iWork and Safari can't be updated unless you also update your MacOS version. I switched from Safari to Firefox, after the major Firefox upgrade a few years ago, and I've never looked back. I liked iWork's Pages, but Apple had a habit of removing features from it rather than adding features with the new releases. So, I switched to LibreOffice. I'd already been using LibreOffice Calc as my preferred spreadsheet, because iWork Numbers is basically a toy (although it makes pretty looking tables).
I'm not at the point of abandoning Apple yet, and I'm interested in the M1 Mini. Mostly, I'm curious how long they'll last, considering that they can't be upgraded and they're pretty much unrepairable, should anything go wrong. If I have to toss it out in five years or less, then I want it to be priced accordingly.
Regardless of what happens, I now find myself in the nice position of not being married to Apple or any single hardware brand.
