You can imagine that controlling network traffic or upgrading RAM are not abilities that the vast majority of people are concerned about, even in tech.

Thats the thing, most people don't need those particular things. But a lot of people need something very particular that very few others need. The problem is not that apple doesn't support a particular use case, but that they cant support all niche cases.

Microsoft / Linux doesn't do everything, but if you need something specific you can bet that there is someone out there that provides that functionality for those platforms.

Of course it's not a concern for all users, definitely the network one, but I think you're underestimating how commonplace RAM upgrades are.

In my own circles (so anecdotally) I've had plenty of conversations over the last 20+ years about helping tech and non-tech people upgrade RAM on their computers, including laptops.. And in the last 5 years I've heard plenty of people be surprised (and bummed) that they can't upgrade the RAM on their Macs post-purchase anymore.

And of course maxing out the RAM at purchase time is a complete rip-off compared to market prices.

Every Mac I've owned (5 machines across desktops/laptops from 2006 through to 2016 I think), I eventually upgraded the RAM myself via aftermarket parts at reasonable market rates and it greatly extended the life of the computer.

Given the premium cost you already pay for a Mac, not being able to do this anymore is a deal breaker, for me at least.

They're concerned about it, but non-technical people get hooked on the familiar. They often don't want to learn a new UI when they know one already.

I have a friend who has a 2015-ish Macbook with 4GB RAM - and she is getting into Photoshop.

So her computer works well for her. The monitor is good enough, the CPU is good, and so on. 4GB just won't cut it.

Since she can't upgrade her RAM for $150 like she should, she has to get a new computer. But she likes the trackpad and the Apple UI so much, she is going to get an iMac with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD for $1600, instead of a Windows PC with a top-line processor, 32GB RAM, 27" screen and 1TB+ of SSD.

The retina screen alone would cost $400+ for a windows. And the Mac is much more of a pro tool when doing creative work. My windows machines always crash on me.

I haven't had windows crash on me when I wasn't doing driver stuff in literally years. Something is wrong with your hardware, unless you're talking about the software that you are using on windows. If those crash it's not windows fault it's just bad programming.

If that’s the case you are the lucky one. It’s surely not a coincidence that Windows software suffers from “bad programming” 50x more often.

There is simply no contest in reliability, you’re always expecting a new problem with windows - just yesterday, in fact, an OS update disabled my network card and I had to reinstall everything to “fix” it. You can use a Mac for years without even knowing what a driver is.

Working in a company where I deal with equal amount of Macs an Windows, we spend a lot more time dealing with Mac issues that simply cannot be solved due to either hardware or software limitations Apple have put in place.

Windows is very solid and we rarely see issues with it on decent hardware which still costs 1/2 of what a lower spec Mac equivalent.

I use both macOS and Windows daily, and I think I saw like one BSOD in the last year, and quite a lot more kernel panics on macOS.

Regarding the software I use, I wouldn't say that it's any more stable on macOS than on Windows.

If you want to do mouse-intensive work on a laptop the mac trackpad is the only way to go.

I spent several minutes trying to get my AirPods to connect to my phone today instead of my iPad. Ended up being late for a call because of it. Happens a few times a week. More than irritating. First world problem, to be sure. But still the whole “it just works” line irks me no end.

Sounds like a problem with your AirPods or your iPad's saved Bluetooth device settings.

I've literally never had a problem for years. Switching is seamless. I don't even have to manually switch, it happens automagically. Same for everyone I know with AirPods.

This is exactly how I feel too...