Re: Selective deafness
I too loved the Apple kit but Sony, DELL, Lenovo, MS all learned from Apple that Aunt Doris and Uncle Jim do not need all that tech on a laptop they use to talk to little Jenny at Uni via Skype and shop on Amazon. Doris doesn't need a laptop to have 6 USB ports, 2 HDMI ports, removable batteries and SSDs, they'll never use them or replace parts like we techies might.
So Sony, et all cut all that stuff out, realised they could shrink their laptops smaller than even Apple's and they'll shift like hot cakes. Doris and Jim couldn't care less if it's OSX or Windows, they don't really care what logo is on the lid, so long as Skype, Firefox/Chrome, Word and Excel run, they're happy as pigs in wotnot!
Now the others have cottened on to how Apple's game works, unless you must have that white fruity logo on th top of your laptop lid, you can buy kit that's almost identical in spec but 1/2 price of the Apple kit. The other company's tech caught up, so I dumped my old Apple kit onto rellies once it was due for replacement and simply bought kit from the other vendors.
Apple is a status symbol, some need that psychological safety net to make them feel good, all power to them. Most of us thoguh don't give a monkey's wotnot, we simply have stuff to do and so long as the gadgets do that then we don't really care who made said gadget.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
