And that's the big thing that keeps surprising me: that there's no laptop maker that produces high quality laptops with their own custom super nice Linux-based but Mac OS-like OS on it. Everybody seems content saddling their hardware with Windows.

Thing is, Mac OS isn't as great as it used to be either. They used to be brilliant developer laptops, but Apple seems to want everybody in their walled garden.

The quality of MacOSX just degraded over the last 5 years or so. It became buggier and slower. At this point, I would actually prefer Linux for my main desktop instead of macOS (if the hardware is well supported by Linux). I used to like macOS, but just as the hardware, it became worse and worse. So, comparing the MacBook with another notebook with similar hardware quality which is well supported by Linux, I would prefer the Linux notebook.

I recently went through the experience of having to adopt OS X after switching employers coming from primarily using unix flavors and Windows my entire career, avoiding OS X at every turn.

My summarized conclusion is that: OS X isn't that great. It's not "bad," don't get me wrong, but it's nothing marvelous. Perhaps at one point in time there was some advantage over a Windows or linux environment but at this point in time, unless you're tied to some package tied to a specific environment for some reason, just work with the environment you're most comfortable with. I don't know how much time I've had to waste adjusting to the OS X environment (especially muscle memory keyboard shortcuts I'm accustomed to), finding replacement niche applications that were environment specific, figuring out how to do basic tasks that are simply different.

On that note, avoid committing to a specific environment unless your application really needs to squeeze out every cycle of performance. It's 2019 and we have portable options now for most application demands.

Yep, it's the high reliability & quality of the first party software (Safari, their office apps, notes, and so on), the excellent battery life (largely due to the software—run a browser other than Safari and watch that benefit take a huge hit), having a Unixy OS that's way less of a PITA on a laptop than Linux (ran it for years as my main OS, including on a Thinkpad, so yes, I'm familiar), and the touchpad that doesn't make me feel like I have to have a mouse to use the machine for more than five minutes, that keep me on board.

There were other things (good-enough port selection complementing the high battery life and good trackpad to mean I could just grab my laptop and go for nearly any situation, without taking anything else, being high among them) but they're gone now. It's basically the software and the trackpad keeping me around. I'd rather use a "worse" Macbook specs-wise than a Win10 or Linux laptop that's much better on paper, because the experience will still suck far less. Design, "thinness", trendiness, all that, don't give a shit. Give me a brick of a Thinkpad with an Apple trackpad, official macOS support, and a 20% lower price than a MBP at same specs, and I'll take that option in a heartbeat.

> Yes, you could get cheaper/powerful hardware somewhere else...

would you agree with this change to your description?:

"Yes, you could get [better] hardware somewhere else..."

I've had the opposite problem: I love Apple hardware, but have never been a big fan of macOS. Unfortunately, since 2016 or so, Apple has been putting so much non-standard, proprietary hardware in their laptops (getting worse and worse every year) that the struggle to get Linux running well enough on them has been more than I've cared to deal with, so I recently jumped ship (junk like the Touch Bar and the general keyboard issues haven't helped my opinion either). I genuinely do like my new Dell XPS 13, but it still just doesn't have the same nice feel that a MacBook does.

> Hackintoshes need not apply here.

If it's just about running MacOS, they absolutely apply.

The only thing linux/other laptop manufacturer need at this point is better touchbar.

There are nothing else making the macbook lines worth it. If Linux with hardware manufacturer come up with a standard for greater touchbar control, the mac will be out of circulation in no time.

You're saying that like macOS is a plus here.

Let's face it iOS and need for software for it is keeping Apple computers alive. If one day it would be possible to develop iOS apps on other operating systems Macs sales would crash.