Oh, I've been in the business for a long time and have used many, many different types of machines. Everything from (very) cheap eMachines to IBM Thinkpad to Dell laptops; I've used them all and all I can think about is how lacking they are. I'm a professional programmer, I make my living with these things, they have to work correctly, all the time. My father was a mechanic and he had to purchase a lot of his own tools. Did he get the $3 screwdriver from Harbor Freight? No, he purchased the $45 one from SnapOn, and it was worth every, single, penny. I feel the same way about my tools. The chair I'm sitting in is a 10 year old Aeron and it works just as well as the day it was made. Sure it costs more than the $90 "office" chair at Staples, but I sit in it all day every day and it doesn't make my back hurt. It was worth every, single, penny.
If the price is so important, I have a €1800 Fujitsu laptop from work and could name no issue. It even works perfectly with Linux. Consumer devices are not necessarily bad but often the price increase from that to a business tool is worth it, as you say. I just find the Apple praise weird when people often never used an equivalent non-Apple device.
I have used several PCs and laptop PCs, and 99% have been crap compared to something like an Air or MBPr.
And while there are some production runs of Macs with faults (including the coil whine mentioned, it was an issue back a few years ago for some runs), if you are unlucky to chance on one, you can trade it in (or sell it -- Macs always keep a high resale price).
The problems of the PC laptops, on the other hand, are by design, and not fixable that easily.
Mostly the physical design (and the culture and market decisions behind it). The cheap plastic mentioned in the article that attracts thumbprints. The lack of attention to things like coil whine. The screen flicker, fan noise, random wake ups, etc.
I'm well aware. I'm also aware that the nice models are both few and far between and (the few that exist) cost the same (or more) than a Mac laptop.
Here's what Linus (or a certain OS fame) wrote about the situation:
"I’m have to admit being a bit baffled by how nobody else seems to have done what Apple did with the Macbook Air – even several years after the first release, the other notebook vendors continue to push those ugly and clunky things. Yes, there are vendors that have tried to emulate it, but usually pretty badly. I don’t think I’m unusual in preferring my laptop to be thin and light".
That was back 3 years ago. Since then he also adopted the Chromebook, but the general complaint still stands.