Yeah.
To be honest, I wouldn't mind the price myself if I could consider it an investment. If I could buy parts and have them installed by whomever I want, thus making the machine maintainable, I'd be happy to pay the extra for a truly better product.
If Apple would let OSX run anywhere, I'd be happy to pay a premium for it too. As things currently are, no thank you.
While we're on the topic of switching to linux, are you aware of an accessible FTP client? Filezilla seems to only be accessible under Windows. A command-line client is okay if it supports uploading/ syncing entire directories, which I don't believe the default FTP command supports.
PSA: sending unsolicited PMs or emails to people you don't know asking them to buy you stuff is disrespectful. You'll just be ignored, so don't waste your time.