MacOS just working certainly has a lot more to do with supporting an exponentially smaller array of hardware than either Windows or Linux does.
If you're truly concerned about Microsoft re-enabling that task, it's puzzling that you would suggest an Apple product as an alternative.
They are as anti-choice as it gets.
ACPI enabled BIOSes and UEFI support wake timers.
Windows uses this feature to wake the PC all spooky like so you don't get to click the update button yourself.
While Windows doesn't have an Arch wiki, the instructions for turning the automatic wake feature off are a web search away. You'll need another web search to disable automatic updates though.
You dont need to use group policy.
Admin console: powercfg.exe /hibernate off
Now its off. Hybrid sleep is just a faster Hibernate.
Doing what, working on Azure? Also why not just run Linux locally?
Not even that. Go into Task Scheduler and disable the "Update Orchestrator" task. Problem solved.
I've been out of the GPO game for a while, but I've never heard of widespread issues with laptops waking up even if their lids are closed. Did this start with Windows 11?