OK, this won’t be a post debating the merits of different varieties of fruit.  It’s a spin-off from a work conversation where I was complaining that it was annoying to bring a separate charger for your Apple Watch but at the same time it wasn’t horrible if I accidentally wound up with a dead Watch battery as it really wasn’t THAT critical of tech to me.

And then I was like, I have a ton of Apple-branded nonsense around my house.  If I was asked to give them up, which would be the easiest and which the hardest to part with?

Hence, this post.

From easiest to give up to “from my cold, dead hands”:

Starting with Apple mice and keyboards.  Honestly I use Logitech devices almost everywhere.  I have a Magic Mouse on my work laptop, and I’d miss TouchID on the one Mac I use an Apple keyboard with.

Apple Studio Display.  It’s gorgeous but I have used plenty of non-Apple monitors in the past and it wouldn’t be a huge adjustment to go back.

HomePods.  I never use them as “smart” speakers because Siri is hopelessly outclassed by a $30 Nest Mini.  They sound good and I’d regret needing to go back to a clunky receiver but eh.

AirPods.  Convenient, yes, cool, yes, absolutely replaceable by almost any pair of earbuds on the market also yes.

AppleTV.  My living room TV has apps for MOST things and/or I could use the media apps on a connected game console.  Huge step down in ease of use but I could make it work.

Apple Watch.  I’d miss the turn by turn directions when driving and all of the notifications but really I mostly use it as a fitness tracker.

Below here gets rough because this is all stuff I use daily.  While the #1 “indispensable” spot is fixed in stone, #2 and #3 made me think and I could honestly go either way.

Mac.  I’m cheating here and assuming I get to use a Windows or Linux PC even if I was forced to get rid of all of the Macs in my house.  Apple’s service integration with Windows is OK and Windows 11 is not a terrible OS.  This would sting though.

iPad.  This is my go-to portable games console, manga reader and YouTube binge-enabler.  It’s also not half bad for productivity stuff, and there are days when the only reason I go to a desktop/laptop at all is because there’s no World of Warcraft client for the iPad.  Honestly if I could just manage my iTunes library and use Smart Folders in Photos it would be just about the perfect device.  There are tablet alternatives, sure.  I own a Surface Pro.  It’s nowhere near as good as a device with a dedicated tablet OS.

Finally, iPhone.  Frankly I have offloaded so much of the stuff my human meat brain used to handle to the phone that I don’t want to think about what it would be like if I had to go back to functioning as a non-connected person.  Technically I could go with another smartphone – I have a Pixel 8 for work and it’s a really nice device – but boy I do not want to think about how much pain would be involved in detangling myself from all of the Apple services I rely on.