[willtim]

My ThinkPad X1 is as good as any generation of MacBook, it is certainly more serviceable and has a better keyboard. You might prefer MacOS to Linux or Windows, but I can assure you that there are very decent hardware alternatives.

[lisper]

One of my constraints is that I have to provide IT support for my very non-technical spouse. That is a very severe constraint. Linux is not an option for her, and Windows is not really an option for me. That leaves Macs.

[willtim]

My wife has a Mac, but when it dies, I'm going to persuade her to try Ubuntu. She only uses the Mac for Facebook and occasional Word/Excel. I think LibreOffice and Firefox should have her covered.

[lisper]

My wife is a writer who is, sadly, heavily invested in MS Word.

We are also both heavily invested in iPhoto (which is why all our machines still run Mavericks).

[r00fus]

Why not Chromebook?

[lisper]

Because I don't want to hand over that much control over my life to a large corporation. (I run my own email server.)

[berberous]

I have one, and a 2012 Mac. The thinkpad is OK, but I much prefer the Mac. The trackpad alone makes using the thinkpad miserable.

[willtim]

I use the keyboard a lot more than moving the pointer. I use a tiling window manager under Linux and lots of keyboard shortcuts, which helps. For moving the pointer, I prefer the ThinkPad trackpoint, as I do not have to take my hands off the keyboard.