This is how being an Apple customer goes, you spend a ton of money on hardware that has an issue that can't/won't be fixed. The solution? Spend more big bucks on yet ANOTHER Apple product. We keep rewarding them for their shady/shoddy manufacturing.
And why do we do that? Because we want/need to continue using their software, either because we already invested the $$$ on it, or because there are really no alternatives on windowsland. That's why we accept what is in fact an abusive relationship.
The Mac Mini does look like the least painful solution, but beware: unless you have a 4k monitor and are willing to run it at 200% scaling, the image will look like garbage. Why? Because Apple doesn't like to play nice with anything third-party.