It's easy to come across lots of overly done up i3 setups, often using "i3-gaps" which is a modified (fork, I think) of i3 which introduces gaps between all windows and the screen edge in the name of prettiness. This is common in the /r/UnixPorn community and frankly, I would never use it. Perhaps you're seeing a small subset of potential i3 setups. On scrollbars, I don't feel like I see any more scrollbars than in Mac or Windows. Probably less?
The main benefit I see in i3wm compared to any other window managers in other OSes is actually the use of space, my windows are literally edge to edge. Apps don't have title bars unless you've got your windows stacked, and you can customise exactly how many pixels the title bars are. You can customise the colours of active, hovered and inactive window titles. You can add borders to windows, of any size and colour, you can have none.
I also love the multi desktop feature which I use prolifically. I have 10 desktops named 1-10 but you can call them anything you want (emojis work too, thanks unicode). Certain apps always open in certain windows so I always know where everything is. This is all declared in a config file so it's never a guessing game - it just works. Also, I have 2 monitors and multi-monitor support for window management works a dream.
It's not just the tiling - moving windows around is so easy, I can press $mod+Shift+5 to move a window to desktop 5, or $mod+Shift+Left to move it to the left, or even $mod+Shift+Alt+Left to move it to the left monitor. These are second nature to me now.
Finally... the speed. Wow, switching between desktops, windows, monitors just happens incredibly fast. When I use a Mac or Windows I just can't stand all the animation and slowness. M1 macs included. This is in part helped by the picom compositor, with animation time reduced to being nearly negligible whilst being enough to "look nice".
It's easy to come across lots of overly done up i3 setups, often using "i3-gaps" which is a modified (fork, I think) of i3 which introduces gaps between all windows and the screen edge in the name of prettiness. This is common in the /r/UnixPorn community and frankly, I would never use it. Perhaps you're seeing a small subset of potential i3 setups. On scrollbars, I don't feel like I see any more scrollbars than in Mac or Windows. Probably less?
The main benefit I see in i3wm compared to any other window managers in other OSes is actually the use of space, my windows are literally edge to edge. Apps don't have title bars unless you've got your windows stacked, and you can customise exactly how many pixels the title bars are. You can customise the colours of active, hovered and inactive window titles. You can add borders to windows, of any size and colour, you can have none.
I also love the multi desktop feature which I use prolifically. I have 10 desktops named 1-10 but you can call them anything you want (emojis work too, thanks unicode). Certain apps always open in certain windows so I always know where everything is. This is all declared in a config file so it's never a guessing game - it just works. Also, I have 2 monitors and multi-monitor support for window management works a dream.
It's not just the tiling - moving windows around is so easy, I can press $mod+Shift+5 to move a window to desktop 5, or $mod+Shift+Left to move it to the left, or even $mod+Shift+Alt+Left to move it to the left monitor. These are second nature to me now.
Finally... the speed. Wow, switching between desktops, windows, monitors just happens incredibly fast. When I use a Mac or Windows I just can't stand all the animation and slowness. M1 macs included. This is in part helped by the picom compositor, with animation time reduced to being nearly negligible whilst being enough to "look nice".