doggone

A headless Mac that is not a Mac mini really needs expandability.  So a shorter, smaller version of the MacPro would be cool.  An overweight Mac mini does not fit the bill. 

Back in 1999 or so, I bought a G4 tower for ~1600 or so.  It may have been last year's model so I got it a bit cheaper. I had that machine for nearly 10 years.  Because it had space for additional HD, I could expand the disk space as I needed it.  I could run OS X public beta and also still have OS9 as a backup.  Later I would upgrade the CPU, put in more memory, even at a new graphics card.

My point it that it was a lot of fun to have a machine that you could expand on.  Offering a small tower could bring back some of those days again.  Plus not every power user needs a full blown MacPro.

Offer a machine, with expandable RAM, a few slots for cards and a spare drive (or even better SSD cards) for 2000-2500 and you will have a good number of takers.  I would consider it especially if the base model was 2K.

The reason that Apple can ship products in the volume they do is because of Cook's supply chain prowess.  I still remember the months of delay when a product was released and when it shipped.  Apple always had great design skills but Cook enable Apple to deliver on that promise.  It took some time to get it right but in the last 20 years he has hardly missed a step on supply.
That's the reason why Apple has the market cap it has now and why it is the most profitable electronics company in the world.

It's the software and the hardware that differentiate Apple from others.  Plus now they have integrated iOS and MacOS.
Apple still needs to keep the pressure up and skate to where the puck will be.

We haven't seen the most from Apple yet.  Remember they plan long term.

If an employee makes a claim of harassment to HR, HR is legally bound to conduct an investigation.  If HR does not do the investigation correctly or ignores it then the consequences are enormous. I would be very surprised that Apple are not following the rules.

However, this system does require the affected employee to make a claim to HR.  They are protected by law from retaliation but have to make the first step.

As far as work conditions go, that is very much down to perspective.  Apple is known for pushing its people hard.  From what I've heard, many employees who are WFH do not want to return to the office.  I am seeing that in my industry too and to some extent who can blame them. Why commute 2+ hours a day when you can do your work from home.  This is especially relevant for employees who have kids and have to do the drop off and back from school or child care.