Linksys WRT3200ACM is what i recommend. supports openwrt. my 3200 is at my parents being used as an AP only. their router is a Cisco 1921 with zone based firewall and some poe 3750 switches.
My setup here is a Cisco ASA 5512x firewall, catalyst 3750GBe poe switch, WLAN2504 controller and several CAP3702 APs. this requires quite a bit of experience to setup, but works very well. the wlan controller and two APs will probably cost about $300. that alone could be used behind your ISP modem if desired. i’ve got gigabit fiber up/down from ATT and use their modem but pass thru the IP to my asa.
Apple is waiting for the successor to the aging X99 Intel chipset. Intel has released the 100 series chipset but there are only max 20 PCIe lanes compared to the 40 max PCIe lanes possible with X99. this means the only possible configurations with the 100 series chipsets is x16,x4 or x8,x8,x4. With PCIe being the central bus with the Mac Pro it doesn't make sense for Apple to have released a new Mac Pro yet. The chipset technology in the current Mac Pro is still top of the line. Sure, you can get new processors with more cores and DDR4, but the number of PCIe lanes and memory speed/latency is optimal for the Mac Pro as as of now there is no better option for them to build a successor.
There is a lot going on under the hood in a Desktop Environment to make everything work as you would expect from MS Windows or OSX. Gnome has gotten a lot better in the past 3-4 years. When gnome 3 came out along the same time as Unity, both were a terrible mess. Gnome has come a long way since then. That being said, I dont use gnome. Yes, if you don't understand dbus or systemd or udev or any of the other Linux conventions for that matter, it's going to be frustrating if you upgrade and your system suddenly won't boot. Who uses busybox anymore anyways? I'm not sure how this man's rant got upvoted to the FP of HN. It sure seems like a lot of ignorance and complaining on his part. Systemd has made "managing" or "administering" Linux systems much easier for me and I could in no way see how going back to init scripts could be better or make your system more reliable to boot?
An analogy that comes to mind is automotives. Engines and transmissions have come a long ways in the past 20 years. Drive by wire, variable valve timing, direct injection, dual-clutch automatic.. These new technologies come with a learning curve clearly but have definite advantages.
I'm not sure why this guy is complaining, if he understands Linux as he claims, he shouldn't be having these trivial problems or much less spending time ranting on the internet. I'm not sure if anyone will take him seriously.
My setup here is a Cisco ASA 5512x firewall, catalyst 3750GBe poe switch, WLAN2504 controller and several CAP3702 APs. this requires quite a bit of experience to setup, but works very well. the wlan controller and two APs will probably cost about $300. that alone could be used behind your ISP modem if desired. i’ve got gigabit fiber up/down from ATT and use their modem but pass thru the IP to my asa.