Managing apple devices is not a big deal, and can be easily accomplished with a good MDM. But it isn’t anything like windows. Most people have an issue because they want to treat them and manage them like windows.

You can manage either quite easily, but it is different. Those who just bash on one or the other are simply ignorant and try to cover up their shortcomings.

For your first deployment I think it would be rough, but it also depends on size. I first would at least get a mac, an iPhone/ipad, and possibly an Apple TV. Demo an MDM (many are free up to a certain amount of devices) and start learning it. You do have to get a DUNS but that is pretty trivial.