My laptop:
- has been used almost 24/7 for the last... five years? Maybe more. Work, home, entertainment, abroad, on a plane, etc.
- is robust. It's taken any number of tumbles off the sofa and survived intact, not to mention being packed into a boot / car / plane.
- is powerful. It does literally everything I need and still out-specs some laptops that people still buy today.
- is full of connectivity - HDMI, VGA, USB, Ethernet, Wireless, Bluetooth, SATA, eSATA, SD card reader,...
- has a huge, bright 17" display.
- has industry-standard OS support, including full virtualisation, for Linux and Windows (ironically, it can virtualise MacOS faster while under Windows than a real Mac can run it with the same resources - and I can assign it what a Macbook comes with with just a slider and still have a ton of power left over for the real OS)
- has a full Numpad and full set of keys on the keyboard.
- has power adaptor, dual-drives and battery that can - and have after many year's service - be replaced and/or upgraded.
- can be taken apart with a single standard screwdriver, down to the individual components (which comes in handy when the fans / keyboard need cleaning).
- has parts that I can buy online by Googling the model number and part name from all kinds of sellers. A replacement keyboard cost me £5. A replacement screen is barely £50 (but never needed one).
- has a "real" graphics card and can play 1000+ Steam games.
- has dual-SATA3 drives.
- has an optical drive still, but I may rip that out and put a (slow) SATA drive in there.
- has audio you can hear in a crowded room.
- has unusual little features like a particular USB port that charges devices even when the laptop is turned off (great for charging gadgets while travelling)
- came with Windows 7, also included a free upgrade to Windows 8 Pro (redeemed inside a VM), and both gave me a free upgrade to Windows 10.
- I upgraded the miniPCI wifi card to 802.11ac for about £20.
- I upgraded the drives to 1Tb Samsung 850 EVOs.
- the total cost, including all upgrades is still half the price of any top-line MacBook available even when brand-new, and they don't really match it.
I didn't even TRY and get a top-of-the-line one. It wipes the floor with any modern Mac in terms of raw performance, usability, features, repairability or robustness. About the only thing the MacBook would win on is "higher resolution", somewhat cancelled out by their pathetic 13"/15" screens. It fits in a little-rucksack case that I bought for £10.
I honestly don't understand one jot why people think a MacBook is anything special at all, in any way, whatsoever. It's literally "looks thin and shiny". That's it. You might as well just carry a bit of tin foil with you, for all they're worth, if that's what you want.
Even the Apple "support"... hilariously, Apple are the only company in the world that I've had an employer go from singing their praises to REFUSING to do business with them because they have zero support whatsoever outside of granny taking her stupidly expensive thing back for the young man to press buttons and just give her another one. Literally, zero interest, in £100,000's of business basically handed to them and them alone, to the point where they are on a permanent blacklist for not even bothering to acknowledge or respond to the simplest of complaints (not to mention all the staff I have who have taken their personal devices to Apple "because they'll just fix it for me" only to admit months later that they just bought a new one because they couldn't get any joy because of... whatever reason... too old, stupendously expensive repairs, etc.).
If you bought a Mac, I have zero sympathy. I've removed them all from the company I work for (and that was with me *defending* and trying to make best of their huge investment in Apple for as long as I could). Nobody misses them. I literally now just say "Apple? Sorry, you're on your own" when the usual "Can you have a look?" question comes up now.
One iMac we needed a hard drive upgrade in. Apple wouldn't do it - they had no option or facility to do so. The only third-party who could do it told us why - he has to smash the screen to pieces, remove all traces of the glass, replace the drive while the computer is open, then re-fit a new screen with special glue and pressure-equipment. It was literally the only way to change the drive, if it failed or needed upgrade. It cost more to do that one upgrade than it would have to buy an equivalent PC - but nobody else could even pretend to do it cheaper.
Take it back to the Apple Store. Those are the only people who care a jot about your purchase. Guess why people get disillusioned with Apple support when they try that? Just look at that guy's tweet. They have no interest, and will just charge you for their own faulty work.
They have declared, in a court of law, that Apple devices are only designed to last one year. It was their declaration to get out of providing the mandatory 2-year manufacturer's warranty, as required by law. It failed in court as an excuse, but they declared that point-blank.
Buy your Apple junk. Make Apple fix it. Don't subject your IT guy to it. You're on your own. When it stops working, talk to Apple. Pay Apple what Apple says it will cost to repair. I washed my hands with them, and gave them MORE than enough opportunities to show me where they shine, and so many benefit-of-the-doubts on behalf of my employer, they assumed I was an Apple fan. In truth, I've never owned, seriously used or recommended any of their products in my life. I just managed hundreds of them. That was more than enough.