> The MacBook Air used to have a multiple USB-A ports plus video, now it 2 ports that have to handle everything.

I doubt this is much of a constraint in the real world. Most people plug power in, perhaps an external mouse, and that's it. (They should be plugging in external storage for backups, which might require an extra port, but I doubt most people do in practice).

> So now the dongle/no dongle question has to become considered as well.

I'm pretty much USB-C only at this point, but even before then I never understood the fixation on "dongles".

Not everything. MacBooks have MagSafe for power, which frees a port for power or having to use an adapter with power passthrough.

Though it’s not a big issue in practice. When at home or the office, I just plug into a display with a USB or Thunderbolt hub. On-the-go, the Apple adapter works great.

Having to plug more than one cable is annoying anyway when you move between desks.

Agreed that even Apple products have gotten confusing. But still 1-2 orders of magnitude less I feel than other laptops?

I think the lineup and config options on Apple laptops and tablets are carefully planned to make you spend more than you intially thought.

You start with the idea of cheap model, then start going the ladders up.

Maybe, but I know plenty of non-tech people that just buy the baseline MacBook Air and are happy with it.

I think both are true. For non-tech people, or people who don't use a computer for real hard work, who want a decent laptop, they probably just buy the baseline Air. But once you get into doing some more professional stuff on a laptop that needs power, then you fall into talking yourself into more than what you intended. I am experiencing that right now. At the time I didn't have a lot of money, working full time to support a family and going to school, so when I needed a new laptop I got the base MBA M1. Fantastic laptop. But now I am doing more intensive stuff (I also make a lot more now so I can afford it) on it and I am looking at upgrading to an M3. I am playing with the GPU and some ML, so I probably should get more than a base model M3. From there it is, whatever I decided, the next upgrade it just an extra $200. More ram would be nice. Oh wait, for another $200, I can also get the better processor with 2 more cores for CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, why not? Oh wait, $200 more and I can double the RAM. Next thing you now, I started off with $1599 and now have talked myself into a like $2200 (haven't made the purchase yet, but that is what I am looking at).

The tablets are. Buy an iPad, then spend like $600 on hardware accessories and apps to basically turn it into a laptop. Everyone I know who bought one has just left it around the house as a random toy.

But I'm a heavy user, and that 2015 baseline MBP is still fine.

I hate dealing with USB-C, but on laptops, it hardly matters. Pretty rare that I'm plugging in anything besides power.