What makes an Apple Macbook more costly than the normal Laptop

[eulslix]

What I would like to add is that, to me, its not actually about Apple that makes me buy Apple. It’s the lack of competition. Id be willing to throw a ridiculous amount of money at any vendor that commits to user experience like Apple does, but so far Apple is miles ahead of Windows (I cant judge Linux, my last experiences are 10 years ago, which were pretty frightening). As mentioned, a lot of this comes from Apple having control over both soft- and hardware, and I expect the same from any kind of competitor (again, like Microsoft), since I don‘t see it working out otherwise.

Now, does Apple offer the perfect user experience? Not at all! Far away from that. Most designers I meet will just shake their head when talking about some of their design decisions.
I still can‘t believe who came up with that ridiculous undo system and decided to keep it for the iPad. How long did it take them to change this retarded idea, making millions of people jerk off with their devices. At that point, developers like Affinity already had come up with great solutions to this problem.
And the list goes on and on, there is a huge amount of usability issues, inconsistencies, hidden functionality ... and finally the TouchBar.

BUT: At the end of the day, it‘s still the best the market has to offer right now. I could write for days which design decision make MacOS and iOS superior in my eyes. And when it comes to desirability and delightfulness, the gap gets even bigger (Just look at the new Apple Pencil, how you pair it and how it attaches/detaches - its just so satisfying every time).
Unfortunately, becoming a hardware + software business of that scale is basically impossible. I just don‘t see how any kind of startup would be able to establish itself in that market. Even less so as a premium brand, which I think is necessary to maintain this as a business model.

 

[lowendlinux]

I don't think the baby Mac's are priced any higher than other high quality small laptop's it's when you push into the 15" range that I tend to start wrinkling my nose a bit.

There are many ways to compare and they all get thrown around in this forum

Spec for spec apple tends not to be to badly priced the other side of the street is gives me a choice to not pay for that great screen, or the super fast NVME, or the very different keyboard etc.

The Apple store adds value, but there are warranties that provide on location repairs. MacOS/Win/Linux isn't a debate worth having since software and personal philosophies will dictate that more than anything else.

My personal opinion is that if you live within a half hour of an Apple store and just want an appliance, buy a Mac and Apple Care, if you're not one of those people you probably already know what you want.

 

[smetvid]

While it is true that Apple can use some of the same components as a PC like Ram, CPU and GPU there is a lot more engineering that goes into a computer. While a PC could use the exact same CPU, GPU and Ram that does not mean it is the same machine. A handful of components is just that, a handful of components and it is how those components work together through the logic board that makes a difference.

I hate the term Apple Tax. It is a juvenile and demeaning term made to upset people or make others feel better. We don't say BMW has a BMW tax or that Red Robin has a burger tax over McDonalds. Sometimes things just cost more and people are totally fine paying more for something they value.

Apple products are not priced high because some bean counters threw a dart at a board to pick a price or because of some target they have to hit. They are priced higher because thats the culture the users have created around Apple. Apple products exist and people pay for them because it is what they want. Maybe that doesn't make sense to some people but it isn't supposed to make sense. It just is.

What doesn't make sense is people getting upset that other people want to spend their money on products they like. Even if there is no logical reason to cost more who cares? Its my business and I can buy whatever I want with the money I work hard for. I don't go around making fun of people who use a PC, drive a Ford, eat at McDonalds or whatever they do. It is such a pointless and epic waste of time to care about what other people use.

 

[smetvid]

The other thing to consider is just how unsuccessful some PC companies are. Companies like HP have laid off thousands of workers. Why? Because the PC market is in a race to the bottom. As nice as it is to be able to go out and get a computer for less money there is a trend in the PC world to grossly underprice computers in the hope they can make up the difference in bulk sales. When those bulk sales don't happen the company suffers. Well I should say the workers in those companies suffer.

Apple doesn't waver on its prices but it also doesn't face abysmal revenue like the rest of the industry suffers from. They have a realistic approach to price their products so they can be a successful company and employ tens of thousand of skilled workers. I can't recall the last time Apple had a mass layoff.

Thats important to factor in with the cost. I feel good about buying Apple products in much the same way an American feels good buying a more expensive American made car or food from a local store vs a giant national chain. I know Apple is generally a good company that is a stable place to work and we should all hope to see that kind of success in the job market. Maybe if HP and Dell charged for computers what they should be charging they wouldn't have to lay off so many workers or lose value with shareholders. The PC market created this negative culture by making users used to being able to get affordable products and now they are stuck. If they charge the same as Apple people will be upset and their sales will suffer. If they keep the prices low and don't sell enough then their revenue suffers.

Apple knows the race to the bottom never ends well for a company. Customers may think they benefit from cheap products but if companies lay off talent and struggle to innovate then the customer ends up struggling without knowing it.

 

[pshufd]

The other thing to consider is just how unsuccessful some PC companies are. Companies like HP have laid off thousands of workers. Why? Because the PC market is in a race to the bottom. As nice as it is to be able to go out and get a computer for less money there is a trend in the PC world to grossly underprice computers in the hope they can make up the difference in bulk sales. When those bulk sales don't happen the company suffers. Well I should say the workers in those companies suffer.

Apple doesn't waver on its prices but it also doesn't face abysmal revenue like the rest of the industry suffers from. They have a realistic approach to price their products so they can be a successful company and employ tens of thousand of skilled workers. I can't recall the last time Apple had a mass layoff.

Thats important to factor in with the cost. I feel good about buying Apple products in much the same way an American feels good buying a more expensive American made car or food from a local store vs a giant national chain. I know Apple is generally a good company that is a stable place to work and we should all hope to see that kind of success in the job market. Maybe if HP and Dell charged for computers what they should be charging they wouldn't have to lay off so many workers or lose value with shareholders. The PC market created this negative culture by making users used to being able to get affordable products and now they are stuck. If they charge the same as Apple people will be upset and their sales will suffer. If they keep the prices low and don't sell enough then their revenue suffers.

Apple knows the race to the bottom never ends well for a company. Customers may think they benefit from cheap products but if companies lay off talent and struggle to innovate then the customer ends up struggling without knowing it.

The computer business is far more complex than you make it out to be.

HP has a lot of business lines. I have an HP-67 from around 1978. It's a programmable calculator though it's really a computer. It has 240 steps of memory, 26 registers, your typical assembler instructions and you can store and retrieve programs on a magnetic card reader. This thing is built like a tank too. So much so that I still use it 40 years later.

HP used to make medical devices. I took a graduate computer science course and the professor worked for HP Medical Devices. I didn't know that they made them.

Of course everyone knows that they make printers and printer ink and they still seem to be doing well there.

They made Unix servers as well but that business declined with the rise of x86 and Linux.

They own various legacy operating systems and some interesting software products.

On layoffs; one of the CEOs had a "chainsaw" approach to management. Cut, and cut, and cut some more. Whether or not the business line was doing well.

I have a pension with Hewlett-Packard. They seem to be doing a good job on pension funding levels. Companies that are truly in trouble let the pension go.

Dell is doing pretty well. They do sell professional products at professional prices. Their XPS 13 and XPS 15 computers are pretty good. They also sell into the high-end storage market. And they sell servers; lots and lots of servers. They have a high-end storage division in a tech park about 1/2 mile from where I am sitting.

 

[Thirio2]

Because there are many more Windows machines there is more malware written for Windows. Mac OS is less vulnerable to malware (NOT immune). You still have to use good sense surfing the web.
The integration of hardware (watch, phone, tablet, etc.) is great.
The track pad is better than what I have experienced lately with Dell.
The display is good.
If you live in a major city, Apple service is readily available.

However, Numbers and Pages are weak compared to MS Office.
It is very difficult to do anything Apple does not want you to do. It was extremely difficult to set up the email accounts on my wife's new 13" MBP. Apple does not make the settings readily available to use our email account with Charter. There have also been problems with G-mail documented elsewhere.
The "Genius" bar is hit and miss. My wife has almost as good luck googling her problem and fixing it herself.

All in all, I will probably continue to use a MBP for email, web surfing, etc, but will continue to use my Windows machine for any heavy lifting. My wife, OTOH will continue to use her MBP for everything. Especially as long as our Son-in-Law can still do troubleshooting for her when she can't find the answer by google.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

However, Numbers and Pages are weak compared to MS Office.

it absolutely sucks ass. And Office on the Mac is jaw-droppingly awful. Mine is the supposedly latest version and I've lost work more than 5 times due to random crashes.

Macs are not for basic office productivity.

 

[jeyf]

makes it more expensive?... the keyboard of course

 

[lJoSquaredl]

• Privacy: They have to pay for much of this through hardware sales. While some anonymized info goes to advertisers. It is a much more stringent network and so little useful data is shared they don't make nearly as much off advertising revenue as their competitors.

This is nice. I hate that Windows had tons of games added, literally ads inside the OS much like with Xbox. Super annoying imo, glad it's not all over in MacOS.

 

[cynics]

Because there are many more Windows machines there is more malware written for Windows. Mac OS is less vulnerable to malware (NOT immune). You still have to use good sense surfing the web.
The integration of hardware (watch, phone, tablet, etc.) is great.
The track pad is better than what I have experienced lately with Dell.
The display is good.
If you live in a major city, Apple service is readily available.

However, Numbers and Pages are weak compared to MS Office.
It is very difficult to do anything Apple does not want you to do. It was extremely difficult to set up the email accounts on my wife's new 13" MBP. Apple does not make the settings readily available to use our email account with Charter. There have also been problems with G-mail documented elsewhere.
The "Genius" bar is hit and miss. My wife has almost as good luck googling her problem and fixing it herself.

All in all, I will probably continue to use a MBP for email, web surfing, etc, but will continue to use my Windows machine for any heavy lifting. My wife, OTOH will continue to use her MBP for everything. Especially as long as our Son-in-Law can still do troubleshooting for her when she can't find the answer by google.

Comparing laptops though most OEM's only include a 30 day trial of Office. Pages and numbers are included in MacOS and iOS. Not saying you don't pay for them during initial purchase however they don't present you with a subscription plan after 30 days. If you don't know where to get Office from cheap either the Home and Student version is $150!

 

[bill-p]

Because there are many more Windows machines there is more malware written for Windows. Mac OS is less vulnerable to malware (NOT immune). You still have to use good sense surfing the web.
The integration of hardware (watch, phone, tablet, etc.) is great.
The track pad is better than what I have experienced lately with Dell.
The display is good.
If you live in a major city, Apple service is readily available.

However, Numbers and Pages are weak compared to MS Office.
It is very difficult to do anything Apple does not want you to do. It was extremely difficult to set up the email accounts on my wife's new 13" MBP. Apple does not make the settings readily available to use our email account with Charter. There have also been problems with G-mail documented elsewhere.
The "Genius" bar is hit and miss. My wife has almost as good luck googling her problem and fixing it herself.

All in all, I will probably continue to use a MBP for email, web surfing, etc, but will continue to use my Windows machine for any heavy lifting. My wife, OTOH will continue to use her MBP for everything. Especially as long as our Son-in-Law can still do troubleshooting for her when she can't find the answer by google.

The "because there are more Windows machines so there must be more malware" statement is a myth. There are far more web servers out there running Linux and Unix-based systems than there are Windows machines in existence and in use. How come those don't get hit with as many viruses and malwares as Windows computers do?

It's really simple: Windows just has the worst security out of everything else in existence right now. Case in point:
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/login-t...without-knowing-or-changing-current-password/

Your password won't save you if somebody has physical access to your Windows computer and they really really want to break in. Linux is also not invulnerable by default but at least if you are well-versed enough, you can lock it down.

Mac is not completely invulnerable, but it's a far more secure system than Windows and Linux to the lay man. You don't hear people breaking into Mac firmware very often, and nowadays, Apple has made it so this is almost completely impossible. i.e.: even with physical access, it's far harder to grab data off of a Mac than off of an equivalent PC computer.

You can easily replace MS Office with LibreOffice or OpenOffice if you don't use advanced VB scripts or macros, and you don't mind some minor differences compared to Excel commands.

If you are looking for a good email client on Mac, try Sparrow.

 

[pshufd]

The "because there are more Windows machines so there must be more malware" statement is a myth. There are far more web servers out there running Linux and Unix-based systems than there are Windows machines in existence and in use. How come those don't get hit with as many viruses and malwares as Windows computers do?

It's really simple: Windows just has the worst security out of everything else in existence right now. Case in point:
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/login-t...without-knowing-or-changing-current-password/

Your password won't save you if somebody has physical access to your Windows computer and they really really want to break in. Linux is also not invulnerable by default but at least if you are well-versed enough, you can lock it down.

Mac is not completely invulnerable, but it's a far more secure system than Windows and Linux to the lay man. You don't hear people breaking into Mac firmware very often, and nowadays, Apple has made it so this is almost completely impossible. i.e.: even with physical access, it's far harder to grab data off of a Mac than off of an equivalent PC computer.

You can easily replace MS Office with LibreOffice or OpenOffice if you don't use advanced VB scripts or macros, and you don't mind some minor differences compared to Excel commands.

If you are looking for a good email client on Mac, try Sparrow.

Linux systems are more likely to be professionally managed. We run hundreds of thousands of Linux systems and they are professionally managed. They normally don't get human interaction so that weak part of the malware chain isn't a factor.

 

[bill-p]

Linux systems are more likely to be professionally managed. We run hundreds of thousands of Linux systems and they are professionally managed. They normally don't get human interaction so that weak part of the malware chain isn't a factor.

My organization also has IT professionals managing and actually monitoring thousands of Windows machines (smaller scale) daily, and even then, that does not stop them from getting infected at all.

So I don't think it's anything to do with whether it's being "managed" or not. Windows is just the weakest OS when it comes to security, whatever the reason may be.

 

[ApplesandOranges]

I was hardcore Apple from 2005 - 2015'ish. I still am an Apple proponent, use a 2019 13"MBP, iPhone XR, the EarPods, and iPad. But have slowly become more/more disenchanted with them. Overall, Apple is still my go-to, and why I pay the premium. Especially for the ecosystem, ease of use, "It does just work", etc.

However, the lines are blurring a bit more for me. I've tried a few Windows laptops over the last 8-12 months; DELL, Lenovo, and recently MS. If you look at the cost of what I paid for the higher end models [DELL/Lenovo], it's pretty comparable to what I paid for the MBP, so I don't think Apple is way over priced/expensive than a comparable Windows machine. I think it really comes down to the usual; what works for you, what are you comfortable with, and what helps you get things done? Everyone's needs vary, so I don't think it's a one size fits all deal.

The recent BridgeOS issues, reboots, etc. are what forced me to look at alternatives, and overall I'm quite pleasantly surprised. My latest rig is an MS SurfacePro 6, and it's pretty decent system. True, there are more frequent updates for Windows 10 vs. MacOS, but most of the one's I've dealt with are for the Windows Defender, and none of those have required a restart. Those that do, I just schedule the restart later that's convenient, and go about my day. Does Windows still have issues? Sure, but so does MacOS. My MBP's fan ramps up at odd times, no different than some Windows machines, and I'm not doing high-end graphics work, or coding.

In the end I doubt I'll fully jump, but each year it does get a bit easier to consider.

I feel the same way.

I have noticed when people are pressed they often say it's the "eco system" that keeps them with Apple. In my everyday use the eco system is way down on my list of criteria for using one OS over another. In all honesty, the eco system can be a real annoyance sometimes. For example when I get a phone call, my phone rings, my watch rings, if my laptop is open it rings, my iPad rings, and so on. It's like a symphony.

I feel the eco system lines are slowly getting blurred. There is iCloud for Windows. I can sync my calendars and contacts across all my devices regardless of platforms. I have read about apps available to use Airplay with other platforms, email syncs across all your devices if you use gmail, yahoo, etc.

The only thing that is still only available to eco system users is FaceTime and iMessage. It's only a matter of time.

 

[Virinprew]

Mac OS. It has the programs/tools that you need out of the box (or free to download from app store) ex. Preview, Mail, iMovie, photos, great IDE in Xcode, printer drivers, scanner, snapping tool, backup solution, messaging, video call, automator, terminal (as it’s UNIX based), spotlight, dictation, look up definition, iCloud integration etc. Manipulating pdf is super easy on a Mac. Press spacebar to quickly preview files.
- Installing program outside app store is very easy. And uninstalling them is equally easy.
- Scrolling without focusing on that window first.
- You can customize the system hotkey very easily.
- It rarely freezes. And when it does, other applications still work. (Do know whether Windows has this or not but whatever. )
- You update whenever you want. And it doesn’t take a lot of restart to complete.
Sadly the hardware falls short in the recent years.

 

[Kung gu]

Sadly the hardware falls short in the recent years.

i think they will redeem themselves in 2020 and 2019 mbps are great.

 

[Virinprew]

i think they will redeem themselves in 2020 and 2019 mbps are great.

I hope so. I want to recommend the retina MBA to a family member but just can’t because of the keyboard.

 

[pshufd]

My organization also has IT professionals managing and actually monitoring thousands of Windows machines (smaller scale) daily, and even then, that does not stop them from getting infected at all.

So I don't think it's anything to do with whether it's being "managed" or not. Windows is just the weakest OS when it comes to security, whatever the reason may be.

We require all machines connected to the network to have encryption, enterprise anti-malware, corporate firewall and corporate admin access. This includes personal systems connected to the network - so yes, Admin will have a backdoor to your system if you want to use it for work. We don't provide IT support for issued machines though - the employee is expected to do that. That goes for Mac, Linux, Windows, Solaris or anything else you care to run.

The weakest part of the chain in malware is the end user. There is far more malware written for Windows but the amount on other operating systems isn't zero which is why we require enterprise-grade anti-malware and other stuff to protect hardware, software and the network.
[doublepost=1565867011][/doublepost]

I feel the same way.

I have noticed when people are pressed they often say it's the "eco system" that keeps them with Apple. In my everyday use the eco system is way down on my list of criteria for using one OS over another. In all honesty, the eco system can be a real annoyance sometimes. For example when I get a phone call, my phone rings, my watch rings, if my laptop is open it rings, my iPad rings, and so on. It's like a symphony.

I feel the eco system lines are slowly getting blurred. There is iCloud for Windows. I can sync my calendars and contacts across all my devices regardless of platforms. I have read about apps available to use Airplay with other platforms, email syncs across all your devices if you use gmail, yahoo, etc.

The only thing that is still only available to eco system users is FaceTime and iMessage. It's only a matter of time.

There is iCloud for Windows but it's the web version. The web version of iCloud Notes, for example, doesn't support tables. You can only use tables on iOS or macOS native apps. I use tables a lot. Your performance is going to be far better with native Apps over the web version too.

I do like the ecosystem which is why I'm using old macOS hardware while waiting for Apple to get their hardware act together. I have no doubt that they will eventually. I'm just really surprised that it's taking them so long.

 

[Fishrrman]

Question:
"What makes an Apple Macbook more costly than the normal Laptop"

Answer:
The Apple on the lid and the OS inside...

 

[Hieveryone]

Honestly until you use one imo it’s hard to know why a similar spec’d product with an Apple logo costs more than a windows.

Then you buy one and are like “OHHHH HEY THIS IS NICE WHERE HAVE I BEEN ALL THESE YEARS!?!?”

Lol. And if not there’s a return window at least here in USA.

 

[Webster's Mac]

I am still wondering what makes an Apple Macbook more costly than other pc. What are the features that distinguish and Apple laptop from the rest.
Do you also think that the new generation laptops have attained the heights that Apple laptops attained?
Let me hear your views.

You are mainly paying for:

1. Ultra-thin hardware that is still generally high performance (mainly the Pro line)
2. macOS (no product key, no paid upgrades anymore, etc...the price of the software is factored in)
3. Some of the best support
4. R&D...the inside of a MacBook Pro looks much different from your typical PC laptop
5. Marketing/Advertising
6. The "Apple Tax" which every company has some variant of

Also, lots of PCs come with preloaded software (known as bloatware in the industry) that helps subsidize the cost of those machines

 

[xxray]

This video explains it well.

 

[smetvid]

I'm not sure Apple is always more expensive. For example lets take the Dell XPS 13" the 8GB Ram 256GB SSD version. It only has a 1920x1080 display vs the 13" MBP which has a 2560x1600 display. That makes a difference in the quality users perceive and adds a lot more to the comfort level of using a small screen laptop. The Dell can add a 4k display but 4k on a 13" display is absolutely ridiculous. If you hack the 13" MBP to display 2560 as 2560 its almost impossible to use and read anything. 4k is even worse and Windows sucks, I mean sucks at scaling monitor resolutions. So you will end up scaling to a size similar to the MBP just to use the damn thing and introduce a ton of blurriness and crappy scaling in the process. The Dell also only comes with 1 year of mail in support that does not cover a lot. Apple gives you 1 year of full coverage including accidental. By the time you add the full 1 year of coverage for the Dell and bump up to the 4k to attempt to have a little bit better display we are now up to $1495 vs the similar MBP for $1499. The Dell is $4 cheaper so I guess yeah it is cheaper

but then you also have to buy a year of Office for $99 if you need it and any other tools one may need. Apple users get Pages, Numbers and Keynote for free. Despite some people saying they suck compared to Office I disagree. Office is a jumbled mess that drastically changes the UI with every version because they can't figure out where they want to go with it. Its convoluted and takes 10x longer to do anything vs the Apple tools. The Apple tools may have some capabilities missing but most of those are used by less than 1% of PC users that use Office.

Then if one wants to develop mobile apps we get Xcode for free. We get music creation and video editing software for free. We get a ton of tools for free actually. Tools designed to work with the hardware and OS with less issues overall. Tools we can get support for directly from Apple.

The support is a big factor as well. While Dell may have a year of support its a very different experience to mail in a computer to get it looked at vs walking into an Apple store. Apple can support the hardware, OS and all the tools they create including professional video editing tools and professional software development tools. Its that level of support users are willing to pay for and an infrastructure Dell and HP can only dream of having.

Now there are certain models of the MBP that do cost more and that is unfortunate. For example bumping up to 16GB and the i7 CPU greatly raises the cost of the 13" MBP over the Dell. Thats due to Apples ridiculous customizable options. In Apples defense you can't mass produce a build to order computer and those have to be handled differently in manufacturing. I wish that were not the case but we also have to keep in mind that 99% of users rarely do a build to order Mac. They buy them online as is, walk into an apple store and buy them as is or go to Best Buy to buy them off the shelf as is. So for the majority of consumers I don't think they are paying all that much more at all.

Finally Macs will never contain bloatware. Never. I like my new computer to actually feel new.

 

[DougFNJ]

Up until around 10-11 years ago I had HP Windows machines.
I had used HP for years, and IBM Thinkpads for work. As I used them over time, they continued to slow down. I had frequent updates that took a long time to load. I moved in with my wife when we were dating back then with her 2 kids, and everyone had HP Windows Laptops. Once every week or 2 it took me HOURS to do all the updates, security patches, updating the anti virus software, cleaning out the registries, etc. After a year these laptops were so bogged down with so many processes running in the background, and slow laggy performance, it would be so time consuming to do these updates.

I upgraded to my first MacBook Pro. The performance was immediately noticeable. I migrated all my files and information over, it was easy to do, and had that first MacBook Pro for 3 years. It was just as fast 3 years later as it was the day I bought it. The updates were not nearly as frequent, the software worked incredibly well, and the learning curve moving over was easy. I got my wife her first MacBook Pro 3 years after that, and I noticed my life as household tech support was limited primarily to the kids HP's until we upgrade them both to MacBook Pro's when each graduated HS. My Tech support life in the house is minimal. Everybody in the house was able to move smoothly to the MacOS, and nobody brings their laptops to me with problems. That time saved in itself made the difference to me.

With all the hardware catching up and bypassing Apple, I still feel that with all the processes that need to run full time behind the scenes on Windows, that takes a lot off the specs of a Windows Machine vs a MacBook. I always max my specs out, and I cannot say that I ever remember complaining about any of my MacBook Pro's being slow. My wife has had her MacBook Pro for 5 years now, and I was doing some work on it last week, it was just as fast as it always was, it impresses me everything I notice it.

The OS is the main difference to me right off the bat.
The integration of software between all my Apple devices and core apps. I love that I can message someone from my phone, open my MacBook Pro to do some work, and continue to message on it in between.

Physically, the hardware is incredible on this machine, the full metal body, the attention to detail. I use the the Touch Bar and find customizing it makes little things in my workload a lot easier.

I cannot use Final Cut Pro X on a Windows machine and have no desire to use anything but Final Cut Pro X for my video editing.

It's been mentioned a few times here, but the integrated Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. I still use Microsoft Office which works great on my MacBook, but if I didn't prefer that, it's nice to know these options are included.

The price, value, and what is considered expensive is subjective of course, but you are getting a lot of good reasons in this thread mixed into the silly infighting.

 

[Sellatease]

What I would like to add is that, to me, its not actually about Apple that makes me buy Apple. It’s the lack of competition. Id be willing to throw a ridiculous amount of money at any vendor that commits to user experience like Apple does, but so far Apple is miles ahead of Windows (I cant judge Linux, my last experiences are 10 years ago, which were pretty frightening). As mentioned, a lot of this comes from Apple having control over both soft- and hardware, and I expect the same from any kind of competitor (again, like Microsoft), since I don‘t see it working out otherwise.

Now, does Apple offer the perfect user experience? Not at all! Far away from that. Most designers I meet will just shake their head when talking about some of their design decisions.
I still can‘t believe who came up with that ridiculous undo system and decided to keep it for the iPad. How long did it take them to change this retarded idea, making millions of people jerk off with their devices. At that point, developers like Affinity already had come up with great solutions to this problem.
And the list goes on and on, there is a huge amount of usability issues, inconsistencies, hidden functionality ... and finally the TouchBar.

BUT: At the end of the day, it‘s still the best the market has to offer right now. I could write for days which design decision make MacOS and iOS superior in my eyes. And when it comes to desirability and delightfulness, the gap gets even bigger (Just look at the new Apple Pencil, how you pair it and how it attaches/detaches - its just so satisfying every time).
Unfortunately, becoming a hardware + software business of that scale is basically impossible. I just don‘t see how any kind of startup would be able to establish itself in that market. Even less so as a premium brand, which I think is necessary to maintain this as a business model.

Yeah. Its true. The apple company is good at that. The are ahead of competitiors
[doublepost=1566011791][/doublepost]Thank you all for the reply. I learnt alot. This forum rocks. I am happy to be one of you.