I had slowly been moving into the Apple ecosystem, buying an iPad, iPhone, and even a HomePod and Apple Music. I was largely motivated by a respect for Apple's stance on privacy. Then it came time for me to buy a laptop and I encountered these numerous reports of Apple screwing up one of the most basic parts of the computer. I couldn't justify spending so much on a laptop plus AppleCare, which would only result in getting another keyboard that suffers from the same problem.
I realized that this is what Apple lock-in means, and now I'm leaving their ecosystem. Whereas before I would tell friends and family to just get Apple products, now I'll them to buy a Chromebook or Windows laptop. Maybe this is why I keep seeing the newly released Macbook Air on sale for $200 off...
I am somewhat locked in to "the ecosystem", having an iPhone and an MBP. But the badly designed apps, the disaster that is iCloud, and the new MBP keyboard (the broken butterfly keys, the moronic touchbar) have motivated me to escape.
It's not entirely feasible, even with my minimal exposure. So I've compromised. My daily driver is a Darter by System76. The hardware is good enough, the battery life is good enough, the keyboard is fantastic, and Pop OS is beautiful. I still have my failing MBP, but it is demoted to a station for syncing my iPhone. I rarely touch it. When it dies I will replace it with a Mac Mini. I don't want to move to the Google ecosystem because of privacy issues.
Apple MacBooks lately are being priced on par with the competition. You want premium screen and trackpad - you will have to pay just as much for a windows laptop.
Just bought a Dell Precision, and out of curiosity, went through and specced one out to match an equivalent Macbook. The macbook was solidly 30%+ higher in price. They were pretty close about 3-4 years ago, but now they have gotten terrible. And that doesn't even consider the Dell has a better keyboard (and for me, a better trackpad).
I used Macs for almost a decade, but I'm crazy happy with my Dell running Ubuntu 18.04. Amazing!
I realized that this is what Apple lock-in means, and now I'm leaving their ecosystem. Whereas before I would tell friends and family to just get Apple products, now I'll them to buy a Chromebook or Windows laptop. Maybe this is why I keep seeing the newly released Macbook Air on sale for $200 off...