Keep in mind Apple is a hardware company. The software is their moat (not core competency).
If running the Linux kernel on Apple hardware did not require a massive reverse engineering effort (see https://asahilinux.org) then maybe you would have a point.
The hardware is only there to enable the software in this concept, not the other way around. This is also why if the UX conditions are met, more powerful/newer/shinier hardware was often not used since it doesn't improve any of the software enablement.
You can't sell a good UX with bad software on good hardware. You can sell a good UX with good software on anything.
https://allthingsd.com/20111005/iphone-4s-its-the-software-s...
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2476239/apple-and-wear...
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3353038/apple-in-2019-...
https://techcrunch.com/2008/10/15/what-android-can-learn-fro...
For a given feature, the user might not know how much of the implementation was done in software versus hardware. Apple excels at integrating their software with their hardware.
I was using Linux on laptops until 2004. When I bought a 12" PowerBook G4 and experienced WiFi, sound, and printing working reliably, I realized I could no longer bother with Linux on laptops. This reliability has suffered lately and I hope they can get it back.
Just to be clear, I have been using Linux since 1992. I am completely comfortable with Linux on the desktop and the server. What I found is that Linux does not deal well with configuration, and configuration on laptops changes daily (or more).
There's a few caveats:
* Sound works fine in general, but might be a bit buggy with Bluetooth. If you encounter any issues, installing Pipewire reportedly solves most of them.
* External monitors works fine, as long as you don't mix HiDPI and LoDPI at the same time. In the future, Wayland should fix this.
* HiDPI mostly works, but still requires some config tweaks for a handful of apps.
* Suspend/resume still sucks, mainly due to buggy nVidia/AMD graphics drivers. Only the Intel GPU drivers suspend reliably in my experience.
* WiFi works flawlessly, especially if you're using the Intel WiFi hardware, which is very common on laptops.
* Printing works fine except with Windows-only printers, but they are pretty rare.
* Distros don't really matter that much, but you'd might need to update your kernel if you use an LTS distro with newish hardware. The Ubuntu based distros, e.g. Mint/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS are good options and have the largest user base, so it's easiest to find solutions if you encounter any issue.
* If you just want to test hardware compatibility, I recommend trying Ubuntu 21.10 on a USB stick.
* You'd might want to look at /r/linuxhardware [1] for specific hardware recommendations for your needs. You can also look at the Ubuntu Certified Hardware [2]
If I would create a similar list of issues for Windows or macOS, it would be much longer.
YMMV, so you might need to try it yourself before making a more informed decision.
Testing the hardware support from a USB stick is something that can be done rather quickly.
They've recently been branching out into designing their own hardware (or claiming to, it's not clear to me how much they've done in-house vs contracted out or off the shelf, but I digress) but they've been making software to put on other people's slightly-customized hardware for a much longer time.