Why after avoiding Apple for decades, I'm buying the new Apple Neo

I have been almost entirely in the #Google ecosystem since the dawn of Google, and in fact bought my first Android phone the first day the first Android phone (the venerable G1 with the slide-out keyboard, which I still have and still boots, though with an open source OS version) became available. All my smartphones since then have been Android -- I don't expect that to change.

Other than the single purchase of a tiny iPod Nano long ago, I have avoided #Apple hardware due (among other things) to its typically outrageous pricing and lack of competition in the hardware manufacturing space.

In fact, I made an anti-Apple decision long, long ago, when I chose to work with the 8080/Z80 CPU microcomputers rather than the 68000 series CPUs that Apple chose for its early Macintosh and Lisa lines.

Of course my main work over the decades has been with UNIX/Linux, my servers are and have always run these, and my primary desktops are Linux as well. There are also a number of Chromebooks, Android tablets, Android/Google based TV devices, and some Windows systems for compatibility with needed Windows apps. There more stuff of course but you get the idea.

Along the way I've frequently been asked about issues related specifically to Apple iOS and MACs, and I have simply replied that I don't have expertise with those.

So I've long been aware of this gap, but couldn't justify the expense of any Apple hardware simply for the purpose of filling that gap.

Two events have changed this a bit. First it's clear that both Google and Apple have been moving with notable speed ever farther into the Dark Side, with their billionaire CEOs embracing fascist Trump and seemingly everything evil that he represents.

This creates an interesting dynamic, if one feels that purely open source systems cannot completely fulfill one's required hardware and software needs. In essence, the question becomes is it better to deal mainly with a single Evil Big Tech firm, or split your needs in some respects across two of them (or three, if we include Windows requirements and Microsoft).

For now I view the "split" as the most practical choice -- for me, anyway -- and the new Apple #Neo (whose macOS runs a largely usable UNIX under the hood) represents what seems to be the most cost effective current path to this (it does appear to be a disruptive design in terms of capabilities and pricing, that may give Google's Chromebooks a run for their money, especially in the educational space).

Anyway, just thought I'd mention all this -- more than you wanted to know, of course.

Best,

L