Osx just seems to have a lot of problems with very basic stuff like beach balling various system dialogs, failing with external displays etc.

The hardware is nice, especially the trackpads are way better than the stuff for example Lenovo puts out. Though I have to admit that I really don't like aluminium as laptop material.

I have been using Windows religiously for 15 years. I moved to OS X last August and it's way "too" superior to windows/linux.

You misspelled 'personal preference' there.

The thing I really notice is how everybody with a mac has a machine that is newer than two years. Those who are hitting the two year mark are experiencing hardware issues, particularly lighting, which is needed for dexternal montitors, but it seems trackpad longevity is also an issue.

For most of us, the apps on OS X are also available on other platforms. The only thing I can't get on Windows that mac devs get is Sketch, but the designers post on invision anyway, so it isn't a huge loss.

Everyone in my department at the university who switched to a Mac has had good longevity, most lasting about 4-5 years until they decide they want a new machine (but the Mac still works). I had two Mac Minis in the lab, one a G4 Mac Mini from 2002 and the other a first-gen Intel Mac Mini (it came with 10.4, I don't recall the year). I used the Intel Mac Mini until I graduated in 2013 and had no problems at all.

So, anecdotes are just that. My department consistently has been moving to OS X. Probably about half the professors have switched when there was just 1 professor who used it in 2007. Even my supervisor didn't switch until about 2010. He's still using the same iMac he bought then. The labs mostly use Windows because of the data acquisition software only runs on it as they tend to have specialized equipment that only wrote Windows drivers.

I don't think this should count as a counterexample. You have switched laptops in 2013, and while there could be many valid reasons for that (battery life, more power for development, your old laptop does not support a new OS) it made you old laptop inadequate -- and hence the switch.

Having worked at a company with +50 MacBooks used for 3-4 years, it was really uncommon to see hardware failures besides batteries or power supplies. So I guess we can't generalize out of one experience.

Yeah, no. I have 10 year old Mac (damn, 15 year old) that still work perfectly, as well as 7, and 4 year old. Not to mention that Macs, in general, retain their aftersale value better, so that they commonly "experience hardware issues" does not play well.

The reason some people get newer machines every couple or years or so is that the Mac ecosystem favors newer anyway -- you get quite updated specs etc every two iterations (usually the first iteration is speed bump upgrade), and sometimes things work only with the newer models (e.g. a feature that needs the later bluetooth chipset and wont work on the previous bluetooth generation, etc.).