[acdha]

You didn’t, actually. You listed a vague description which could apply to multiple models and years and it would hardly make sense to compare an old used device to any new one.

Now, if we look at Lenovo’s current Ideapad lineup we start to see something interesting: most of them have these crappy low-res displays and once you’re talking similar display quality, you are shockingly looking at similar prices:

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-i7-1255U-Graphics-Thunderbolt4...

[smoldesu]

Mine's the 5800u model, but the 4800u one has gone as low as $450 new in the past. It supports Linux and Windows out-of-box, it's cheap as chips and it's fast enough to swap spit with whatever my Macbook Air would be running.

I like some Apple hardware; I've got a couple Powerbooks stacked up somewhere, and the early unibody models weren't terribly flawed. Modern Macs though... if you manage to ignore the OS issues, you still have to baby the hardware out of fear of a $700 topcase replacement (or worse). It's investment on top of investment on top of investment, and the returns keep getting smaller after every OS update.

To each their own. I simply don't subscribe to the "one size fits all" mentality towards Apple products, even as "normal people" computers. It's not worth starting a flamewar over though, so I'll leave it at that.

[acdha]

That cost over a grand new according to the reviews at the time and it’s still over $600 now. I’m not saying that Apple is the only company who can make a laptop worth using but rather that when people are saying they can get something as good for far less, their definition of “as good” inevitably has some major caveats like screen or build quality. Once you aren’t making huge compromises, you’re paying similar prices.

Similarly, you mentioned “you still have to baby the hardware out of fear of a $700 topcase replacement” but that’s true of all lightweight laptops, and the metal cases are quite durable so it’s uncommon that you need to do that. Again, my point is simply that this isn’t some big distinction between devices in that class but rather a characteristic of the concept – it’s like going around saying that a Tesla is a ripoff because you can buy a used Camry for less and being surprised when people do not find that insightful.