I really don't Apple Hardware is a lot of money. I buy the cheapest MacBook Airs with a ram upgrade and they last me around ~6 years. Same with the phone I buy (iPhone SE). Outside of the battery needing replaced they last me a long, long time.
Everything else with I agree. The eco-system of all these companies is never-ending (cars, food, cities, etc.). It's like those sci-fi movies where one corporation owns everything. The only difference is it's 5 or 6 companies because they haven't yet started to merge.
You can buy an Android phone with better specs (except the camera, where the iPhone objectively the best) for 200$, while an iPhone is minimum 500$ (and for an SE 2 that is an old iPhone 8 with a newer SOC).
For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade. Apple tends not to upgrade the oldest computers, leaving you with an insecure OS where you can't run the latest software. I have my battle Thinkpad that with Linux runs better than most Macbook and we are talking about a PC that has more than 10 years and I bought used on Ebay for 100$.
Really Apple is not that great. I once used to buy their product thinking they were superior, and maybe once they were, nowadays they are just the other crap made in China but sold at (at least) twice the price because they have the Apple logo on it.
> You can buy an Android phone with better specs for 200$
> For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade
If you compare two phones at 200$, sure. But it is not possible to buy a phone with a better CPU than the 500$ iPhone SE 2. Impossible, no CPU can beat it. So no Android phone has better specs.
For a laptop, if the case is considered a spec like it should, then you have a much clearer picture. Apple has perfected its aluminium processes to provide a rigid and shock-resistant casing, and inevitably when people provide legitimate examples of PC laptops to buy, they never mention that the laptop you'll get will have a shitty plastic case with a heavy steel frame. The worst of both worlds, and many friends have come to me saying they need to change their laptop when theirs is fairly recent. The culprit? their case broke or the display hinge did.
I doubt so, maybe the Apple CPU is better in benchmarks (not even sure), but who cares? I care about day to day usage, and the CPU on a 200$ Android is more than capable of doing everything a normal person does with a phone.
> So no Android phone has better specs
Because it's all matter of CPU. To me is more important internal storage, with 200$ you get nowadays a phone with 256Gb of memory plus a micro SD slot. Or it's important RAM, you get 8Gb of RAM (the same amount of my desktop computer), meaning you can have all the apps in background without issues. You get a fingerprint reader, that is more secure and usable than the stupid face ID. You get a USB-C connector that nowadays is everywhere, not the proprietary lightning port. You get a bigger battery that you don't have to charge everyday. You get a bigger screen with an higher resolution. You get an headphone jack. You get a FM radio (a stupid thing, but I don't get why iPhone doesn't put it).
> Apple has perfected its aluminium processes to provide a rigid and shock-resistant casing, and inevitably when people provide legitimate examples of PC laptops to buy, they never mention that the laptop you'll get will have a shitty plastic case with a heavy steel frame.
I don't care about the cool case of the macbook. I care about having a solid case, even if it's ugly plastic. My thinkpad t440p that I bought for 150$ on ebay I can carry around without worrying, I can spill a coffee on the keyboard and it will not break, I can make it fall from a ladder and it will not break.
Also if something breaks on a macbook, the only option is to throw it in the bin and buy a new one. How do you replace the LCD panel on a macbook? You can't, because it's all glued together and you have to replace the entire lid of the computer, that costs more than the computer itself. On my computer? Pop the display frame with hands, 4 screw and you remove the LCD, a 10 minutes job. Want to access the internal components? Two screws on the bottom and you have access to SSD, RAM, Wi-Fi card and CPU.
Want to change the battery? You will have to do so sooner or later, well on the macbook not only you have to disassemble the entire computer, but it's also glued with a strong adhesive, not only it's difficult to remove but also dangerous, since it's easy to damage the battery and since it's a lithium battery it can even explode. On my laptop just unlock the mechanism and the battery comes out, put a new one in and job done, 15 seconds.
> For a computer you can buy for the same money that you spend for a MacBook Air a computer with better specs and hardware that you can upgrade.
Which specs? When I last checked, the latest M1 Airs were dominating the entire laptop market on CPU performance, battery life and not making noise. These are important considerations. I mean, sure, for the same price you can probably find better displays, more RAM, a bigger SSD, a better port selection, and all sorts of other things, but there are always tradeoffs, it's not like any laptop beats an Air wholesale on all specs.
If someone doesn't particularly care about upgradability (most people don't), the Air actually seems a pretty good deal. Perhaps they were overpriced before, but I don't think they are anymore.
Everything else with I agree. The eco-system of all these companies is never-ending (cars, food, cities, etc.). It's like those sci-fi movies where one corporation owns everything. The only difference is it's 5 or 6 companies because they haven't yet started to merge.