Hey, folks,
My laptop broke the other day, and I need a replacement asap. But here's the rub: I despise windows. I've been a full time fedora user on my main device for a decade now, and I run Ubuntu on my desktop that I rarely touch because it's ooooold. I am not a techy person. At all. I'm an idiot, actually. I use Linux because it's cheaper, it keeps my aging hardware alive longer, and because politically I align pretty well with the idea of FOSS. And because I absolutely hate windows. I don't even like KDE, because it reminds me of windows. Cinnamon? Too much like windows! Lol. I love my workflow in gnome, I love that it's shiny and pretty and looks nice. And for the most part, I'm a browser based user. I rarely have cause to do much outside of the browser, except for sail the seas for some audiobooks. Even my papers for school are written in Google docs.
But also, on my desktop or a secondary device, I don't mind having to fiddle with things and get them working, I enjoy it. It makes me feel like I have actual tech skills when I absolutely do not. But on the device I use for school I just want something that works and I never have to think about. I feel like a traitor to the cause even considering it, but I think I want to get a used m1 air. I've never used a Mac before, though. I used an iPhone once, for about 10-15 minutes, and I hated it. But, like, of course I did. It was completely different, and incapable of doing the thing I wanted it to do.
How painful is the Linux to Mac transition? If I'm using an android phone, an Ubuntu desktop, and a MacBook, how awful is everything going to be to switch between devices? Am I going to regret this purchase, or, worse yet, become an apple fan boy and abandon my glorious FOSS devices forever?
Please assist
If there is a store near that has Macs on display, go check them out and try your most used workflows as best as you can. Even a used M1 Mac will run the newest macOS so that should be a good initial impression.
Day to day tasks are no problem for any modern OS. Internet, Mail and the like. Look for the not so daily tasks to get a feel of the system and if it can do it a way you can arrange to.
Interoperability between devices is best within the ecosystem, but applications like local send work cross platform and can replace something like Airdrop between Apple devices pretty well. If you have your documents and data on a self hosted system or something like Dropbox as well.
I personally use both on my notebooks, and I always liked the Macs for pretty much just working. When having to troubleshoot and support windows machines at work all day, that is a big plus.