I think it looks silly to sorund a machine with beacons. I think its horendus to let inserters grab from the back side of underground belts (or from underground belts at all actualy). The list can go on. There is however a very simple solution to all my gripes, and it's not yell at the devs and try...

Personally I think that the realism is a part of the fun. Not sure how hard it would be to implement but maybe have the fluid settings be toggleable? In game toggle would be preferred but if that isn't workable then maybe a way to select between old and new fluid systems before starting the game?