Have you considered kicking tires on Linux installed on your MacBook?
I have a 2018 Mac mini running Ubuntu well. It actually dual boots macos as well using the refind bootloader. Refind can be installed and booted from a USB key as well so pretty straightforward to try. Make a empty partition from macos for Linux. Then boot Linux iso and install there. Boot refind and you can select which os to use. The 2018 mini even supports esxi and windows if you want to quad boot
I have a 2018 Mac mini running Ubuntu well. It actually dual boots macos as well using the refind bootloader. Refind can be installed and booted from a USB key as well so pretty straightforward to try. Make a empty partition from macos for Linux. Then boot Linux iso and install there. Boot refind and you can select which os to use. The 2018 mini even supports esxi and windows if you want to quad boot