By build quality, I mean how sturdy it feels, how well the hinge works etc
Other features are obvious (trackpad) while some are a matter of preference like you said (OS).
I have an old 15" G4 Powerbook that I bought about a year and a half before Apple went to INTEL CPU's.
We still have it today, it looks and feels just like it did the day we bought it.
In the past, prior to that Powerbook all I ever owned were high end HP network certified notebooks. These HP notebooks were not sold in retail stores and cost upwards of $3,500. They did have a three year warranty and at that time HP would dispatch a service to pick up your notebook to be taken in for service. The service was great, in my case they picked it up Monday morning and had it back to me 4 days later. We were hooked on the OMNIBOOK. It was a well built notebook, unlike the crap they are putting out there today. Even the " Toughbook " be Panasonic isn't as 'tough' as it used to be.
My Powerbook, well it pretty much looks like it did when we bought it and my daughter is using it for school work.
That Powerbook was my first Mac computer. I went out to buy a new computer and having been spoiled by the HP OMNIBOOK I could not find a suitable notebook put out by any manufacturer in the retail market. I went to so many vendors looking for a suitable replacement and found none. Everything they put in my hands felt like crap. You could bend, twist and flex them with easy. I did not like that at all.
I was in a COMPUSA store and the clerk brings out the Powerbook, puts it in my hands and I was impressed with the build quality. Fit and finish was immaculate, lid opened and closed flawlessly and the gap between the upper and lower case was precise all the way around. I know this didn't matter to function, but if Apple took the effort to make them like this I figured all else would fall into place.
A year later it was time to buy a new notebook, as it was my habit to do so but the Powerbook was still churning away flawlessly so I took the money I budgeted for a notebook that year and bought a G5 Powermac.
Six months later Apple went to INTEL.
My experience with Apple has been nothing short of top notch. The one time in all these years I needed service Apple went above and beyond. Not only did they repair what I complained about but the tech 'thought' he noticed a problem and went further in repair. I took it in for a new HDD and came out with a new HDD, LCD Display Panel, and one other circuit board in that iMac.
I still go out and look at what if offered for sale by other manufacturers because I do know that they are less costly and in many cases OSX can be hacked onto them ..... but damn, they just don't seem to have the build quality.
As for service and reliability? Well I will rely on my own experience for that area and not what some publication might say.
Is Apple perfect? No, they do make some things I do not like and have steered people away from in the past.
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