Would you like an Apple desktop device similar to the Raspberry Pi 400?

How is plugging a keyboard into an iPad all that different from plugging a monitor into a Pi 400?

I left Apple for the hardware (butterfly keyboard, touchbar), and stayed away because of the software.

It would be very off-brand for Apple to cater to a niche market, with a product that focuses on hacking and customisation, at a low-price point. Everything about it is anti-Apple.

Would be terrific for casual computing, testing and development.

I can't imagine Apple would do this though as they'd probably cut into their own flesh with a product like that. Many people use iMacs as office computers, for them there would be little reason to buy a machine for thousands of Dollars just to write text documents, read e-mails and browse the Internet if you can get a MacOS device for a few hundred Dollars. Apple already has the Mac Mini which starts at 800 USD, so I don't think there's much pricing room below that for Apple. But then again, who knows, as they're building their own chips now it would be feasible to design a slightly underpowered Mac Mini and sell it for 300-400 USD. If it works well enough it could be a great success, I think.

No. For the past several years, Apple has been notoriously bad at manufacturing keyboards.

If anything I'd rather have a budget Mac Mini Mini in something like an Apple TV 4K case.

An entry level Mac is the Mac Mini. They already have the development kits for ARM in a Mac Mini case, I assume they'll sell that as an actual Mac soon.

Apple IIf

It depends, would it have a butterfly keyboard?

Could such an ecology ever be truly open?