I don't want to buy the overpriced hardware that comes with Apple.
For Linux, I'd like something that provides some kind of stability without me having to search for obscure shell commands for fixing new issues every 2 weeks, which unfortunately has been my experience with using it on my laptop in the past. Maybe it has gotten better, I'm open for recommendations.
When buying new hardware, I make sure to check Linux compatibility before I buy something. In general, I prefer widespread and quality over new or cheap.
That is probably (next to using a enduser-friendly distro like Ubuntu) the most important point to circumvent nasty bugs and digging deep into the OS.
What is left are problems, that are mostly easily solved with a quick internet search and maybe copy pasting something in your command line.
That will probably happen at some point, but not every two weeks. More like in the first month after setting up your system and then once a year or when you add new hardware to your stack.
I did that once. Every single component had an OSS in-kernel drivers.
Compositing wouldn't work with an external display connected. After about 10 years of Linux on the desktop that was the last Linux desktop machine I ever used.
And the hardware is too good for the software longevity. A 10 year old Windows machine works fine if you have decent hardware (so, desktop, not laptop) but Apple EOLs and rots the software compatibility of your perfectly functional hardware after 7 years
For the software side, you need to learn it, just like anything else. You've spent years, perhaps the majority of your life, learning Windows. Of course there are going to be things you'll have to learn again. But you'll be better for it. I'd rather learn to use a system that respects me than one that treats me like a commodity.
Or, you know, you could buy it preinstalled, with support, form a vendor that actually supports Linux on the hardware.
It's absolutely not perfect, and part of that is there's too much choice, but if you're willing and able, you can make it work for you and yours most of the time.
And yes, I do think it's much better than it was.