If you're already thinking about trying it for a year or two, you're serious enough that a teacher will be far more helpful than an app, and a cheap, small, non-weighted midi keyboard will limit you a lot.
> But if you just want to make music in a modern way (on the computer)
Acoustic or digital, music is more than a series of button presses. All the things I mentioned apply even if the only thing you want to do is play 4-chord pop songs.
If you seriously want to learn and play piano, even as a hobby, that is the entry level.
I also disagree with using any of the popular apps as anything more than supplemental tools, but there are some very good adult lesson books can definitely form the backbone of your learning. As long as you're aware that posture and technique is a struggle for self-taught pianists, you can look for videos and make some conscious effort to improve at it.
Buying an $80 smaller midi keyboard is a good way to get a cursory feel for things without spending the full amount.
And then it turns out that Python is actually quite a useful language, and that the keyboard-shaped thing is better than nothing.
Get secondhand for $100-150.
Adding my vote for never ever touching an “el cheapo” instrument. A junk keyboard and guitar made me think I disliked those instruments as a younger person, and it makes me sad when I see kids struggling with instruments that I can’t make sound good with years of experience.
We're in an old house and there isn't a piano-sized space in our living room that doesn't have a window, door, or HVAC intake/vent.
I can recommend Entropy Tuner, which is a great piece of software to help you tune a piano properly.