So, I had always been an Apple hater, and long time Windows supporter, especially when they were doing great things with Windows Phone and Surface, but, one thing that made me appreciate Apple back then, and made me not cringe to buy some of their products recently was my wife’s experience with her Macbook Pro.
My wife use to do videography way back in the day, and got a Macbook Pro for her work. She’d had it for probably 5-7 years when the battery started to swell. She took it to the Apple store near us to get a new battery for it, fully expecting to have to pay a pretty penny for the battery since her Apple Care or whatever warranty they were doing at the time had long expired. The store manager took her MBP to the back, and brought it out a few minutes later with a new battery, no charge and no questions asked. That MBP lasted several more years, and didn’t finally die until it was well over a decade old.
And while I’ve heard other stories from people having problems getting support at Apple stores, I think in general, it’s one of the better benefits of buying Apple. They claim prestige, set up fancy stores to show it off, and it behooves them to maintain that look by providing that first class service in their stores as a whole. It’s a much different thing than Windows is trying to push with their branding.
Anyway, the point is, you pay more for it, but there are some benefits to the walled garden. I doubt I’ll ever go all in with iPhone, but I’m increasingly more happy with my MBP and IPPs with each announcement Windows makes.