Smaller stuff has to be more complex to get to the lower mass, which is usually what causes the biggest issues. The hdds in those ipods had some extra stuff to make them more reliable, but even then, move them too quickly and they show it.
Depends on where you get it. Recently had to go through and find another version, as mine was detected by YouTube and just said to download the official version of YouTube to play videos.
Not to mention that they all abandoned headphone Jack’s, even though if they kept them they might have actually got me. If you don’t need a headphone jack, I’m pretty sure Huawei has some tablets running their harmonyOS (fork of android, I think), have heard they’re pretty decent.
Sad to say it but yeah. I’ve never really used MacBooks, but I had an ipad pro 10.5 for years, and it finally died on me a few months ago. I recently replaced it with a 2 in 1 thinkpad, but the level of usability is just not the same. Tried windows (kinda half thought out) and currently going through Linux distros (mostly buggy when in purely touchscreen only mode) but it is a far cry ipad os, even if I have issues with it.
Dang, you weren’t kidding with the price of a used x220 (I have an x230 that I got for less than I’m currently seeing on ebay a while back, and the only thing that really made me switch to something newer was the screen). Maybe a newer thinkpad or an hp elitebook? I think as long as you have something newer than a 2nd Gen I series chip, there really shouldn’t be an issue if you’re basically just using it for text processing. If you start with models with ddr3 and sata drives you should be able to get very cheap replacement parts for a while yet.