Literally the reason why I use apple products is because their UI is the only one which is consistent, looks the best, and performs the best. MacOS/iOS pings the GPU to draw animations with a higher priority than other tasks which makes it a smoother experience overall.

I strongly believe that the flat and dull UI design of windows and Android looks cheap, tacky, and out of place on the highest end devices. Glassy UI design is the pinnacle of UI design because it looks the best, gives a sense of layering that’s lost with an opaque UI, and puts the powerful GPUs in modern devices to work which ties into a sense of value for money when you buy the higher end devices.

If Apple rebranded themselves to be a flat UI like Windows did from 7 to 8, I’d literally sell my apple ecosystem on the spot. I however don’t see that happening because my bet is that they converge with VisionOS in which glassy design is a critical UI design choice that enables VR and AR to be as seamless as it can be.

I have kept an eye on the android ecosystem and think I’ll switch over eventually if Samsung adopts a glassy UI that permeates ALL of the UI and not just the notification shade/homescreen icon drawer/edge panels. However though, since Samsung doesn’t have Linux software, you have to use Windows’s myphone app alongside Dex applications on windows to get the continuity features I get in the apple ecosystem. As a sidebar, the removal of Samsung notes as a universal windows app (Only Samsung laptops can officially run Samsung notes) left a particularly bad taste in my mouth for android because I feel like that sort of thing could happen with anything I rely on within the ecosystem.

As a note about the windows ecosystem: it’s incredibly slow, android apps are being removed from Windows in 2025 (which would make me rely on Dex for any continuity at all). Windows applications are generally coded poorly, are not uniform because there’s a lack of CoreUI frameworks to build an application off of, and it just looks awful with the mix of XP settings icons and Windows 11 icons all smudged together for legacy reasons. Windows 12 needs to completely overhaul its UI and android continuity for me to even consider using it. As it stands now, I would switch to Linux because I could have a glassy desktop theme, but the continuity features just aren’t there on Linux with android.

Only recent Apple product I have is an iPad. Android still isn’t that great when it comes to tablets and doesn’t have many tablet optimized apps. The iPad is nice for drawing using the pencil and Procreate, watching movies and reading the newspaper. I don’t use any of the Apple ecosystem stuff like iCloud etc. Some things are mildly infuriating though, like having no real browser choice (hopefully soon to change).

You seem to be very enthusiastic about criticizing apple.

I just own an iPhone so I don’t think I can engage with you with all these critiques. I bought it because at that point in time, it was cheaper than a Samsung. I had concerns about privacy, and it seemed like apple had better control of their App Store and there was less crapware there.

I had tried a custom android rom before this (it must have been around 2013, cyanogenmod) but it was too early in development maybe, and it sucked. It might have been the phone I installed it on. At any rate, I gave up on custom roms for a bit.

My job uses iPhones for an industry specific dispatch software that does not use the cellular network. So I am glad Im familiar with iPhone software, though I wouldn’t have bought one just for this reason. They were using iPods for the software before that, but the iPods didn’t have replaceable batteries and had to be disposed of (which is a shame, they were much smaller)

My iphone is 5-6 years old now, I’ll buy something else when I have to. Probably something I can try lineageOS or whatever the new rom is.

• if you want to upgrade the OS, you have to pay once again,

That used to be the case for Mac OS, but it hasn’t been true for a number of years.

but this doesn’t work if your hardware model stops being supported. Why pay for something with a limited life expectancy?

That’s an issue with all IT products and a lot are worse than Apple products.

Also, if you’re talking solely about Macs, then be aware that Mac-specific Linux projects exist to keep older machines running for longer.

• you cannot get rid of bloatware, only hide it

That’s also true on other OSes, like Android and Windows 11.

• software is made specifically to be only compatible within their ecosystem. If you want to build up on existing software and hardware, you either stay in their system and keep paying them or start anew with a freer alternative.

The idea is that in the best case, everything works out of the box. You often don’t get that with less-integrated solutions.

• I find it ridiculous they use fancy names to name even their support staff instead of just calling it support staff. Why make things complicated?

That is presumably to try to market Apple as an upscale brand. But does it actually bother you as a customer?

• I don’t understand why they use pentalobe screws instead or regular ones (with a line or a cross section)

Apple wants you to pay for repairs, I think we can safely say that. They’re not unique there either, though maybe more persistent on that front than most other manufacturers.

I wish all windows users a very 65 decibel fan noise on opening 3rd chrome tab.

This message brought to you by ARM gang.

I use a hand-me-down Macbook Pro 2012. It’s a fantastic piece of hardware. Especially after I nuked macos and installed Debian.

I have an iPhone, MacBook, and run Linux on a desktop pc. Only thing I have to add is that on iOS the only apps you can’t remove is phone, messages, settings, App Store, and safari which I wouldn’t consider bloatware. On macos I think u can remove pretty much anything using workarounds. Rn apples arm laptops are some of the most efficient on the market, iPads are pretty good tablets, and iPhones work great with both of those products.

I like Apple’s hardware but their software is not ideal.

I have an M1 Macbook Air that is honestly the best laptop I’ve ever used. I will run this thing until it dies. I’m running Asahi Linux so I don’t even have to deal with MacOS anymore.

As for my smartphone, while I am concerned with privacy and control over my devices… I think privacy is more important. While I do not trust Apple with my privacy, I trust them over a literal advertising company.

At this point I’m just one more person on the pile but:

I used Android for years because I like open stuff, but iPhones are just straight-up better. There’s all kinds of weird broken stuff on Androids, things that don’t quite work or where the interface separating two parts of the device is a little awkward… my iPhone just does what it’s supposed to do. It’s hard to explain but there’s just a clear difference in the quality level of the software. They seem like they polished it until it was genuinely done, as opposed to just shipping the thing and moving on with something else. Also the photos are better (same thing – they clearly make it a priority). Also the security is much better, weirdly enough. I had to fight with the iPhone for quite a while trying to get a dashcam app, until I finally realized that the issue was that there was absolutely no way for an app to access the camera if it wasn’t the foreground app with the camera light on. Android? Fuckin’-a Mr. App you can watch this person sleeping, just make sure you ask about it when you’re first installed (and then refuse to install if the person says no).

Etc etc.

MacOS computers are pretty similar; good hardware, software isn’t perfect but mostly solid, BSD backend with lots of solid tooling. They just generally are high-quality and reliable.

I think mostly the reason is, they have this weird cultish following that means they can charge a high price for their stuff and don’t face constant pressure to make it a little crappier in hopefully-they-won’t-notice ways to save a buck. So, you pay a little premium but what you get is good.

I choose Apple because its the lesser evil. Going fairphone/postmarketos (or degoogled android) is too much trouble and I’m not that idealistic. I respect those who do, though.

I use an iPhone because I need two things to just work, and my phone is one of those things. (The other is my car, but that isn’t super relevant here.)

I use a Macbook Pro because they are much more performant and have way longer battery life compared to a similarly priced Windows laptop, no other reason. There is just nothing in the x86 realm that is even comparable to what Apple silicon offers, and Windows on ARM offerings just aren’t really there yet. I use a Windows desktop and an Android phone, though.

Popular alternatives really are that bad. If you just walk into a phone store and get an android its going to be loaded with far more bloatware from google, the manufacturer, and the telecom. It’s just a visibly worse product. You can always research, buy direct, or flash your own android and get a better experience. Or you can just buy the apple product which - for the average user - is not crap, it just works. Same with buying a laptop from Best Buy or a prebuilt desktop. Apple designs their products to be like an appliance, something that just works and you dont really care how.

if you want to upgrade the OS, you have to pay once again

they haven’t charged for OS updates since 2010 or so

you cannot get rid of bloatware, only hide it

fair but unlike bloatware on other operating systems, it’s mostly unobtrusive (doesn’t run in the background, at least to the point where performance is affected). also this seems to apply to many OEM android ROMs?

they use pentalobe screws instead or regular ones

also a fair criticism but it’s not like I’m opening it every day (some apple devices I’ve owned I never had to open) and you can get screwdrivers for like $5 if you really need one

anyways I have an iPhone and a macbook pro. the iPhone I like because the overall experience feels “smoother” even though some of the higher end androids might have better specs on paper and might be a little faster on benchmarks. idk I know this sounds stupid as fuck but it might just be way things are animated and the overall visual design, I just find it less annoying to use. at this point the most concrete advantage android has are the real file browser and sideloading, but I personally don’t need those. I last used an android in 2021-2022 and almost never used them

the macbook I bought because my stupid job only allows remote work if you provide your own hardware, and at the time they started allowing remote work, I was working on an iOS app. I was a mac user a long time before, so I was excited about “returning” but honestly I found it underwhelming, mostly because it still has the problem that caused me to switch to PC in the first place - poor compatibility with mainstream software. the one nice thing about macbooks (or at least the specific one I got, the M1 pro) is that they’re super quiet compared to windows laptops, the loudest it gets is on the level of the average windows laptop at idle. also they have better touchpads, though touchpads in general are bad. I don’t hate it but I don’t think I’ll be buying another one again.

Shit it took me so long to write this, it’s now totally redundant. I left it just in case you are bored.

I use a 2 year old iPhone, a 10 year old MacBook Pro as my daily driver, a 10 year old Mac mini attached to a tv and an apple tv. I also use a home build windows11 desktop for my home use and gaming, a hp mini running pfsense and a server running truenas core.

To touch on your points, You pay for the Mac hardware and the OS is included. This is just like you buy an Android phone or a dell Linux desktop. With windows computer you are paying for windows license within the price of the unit. the Yearly (pain in the ass)macos or iOS upgrades are free but they usually have a cutoff of 5-7 years because of hardware comparability. This does not mean you can’t use you mac anymore, it just means you just can’t upgrade to the latest version with whatever new features or fixes it contains.

The only bloatware is Apple software you might not need. Depending on the platform and the version you can remove it. Unlike an android pone manufacturer which will bake in some of its bloatware on top of Android, then the provider adding their own on top of that. This may or not be removable. Let’s not even talk about Microsoft and oems although at least with windows you can wipe the unit to reinstall with just the Microsoft bloat then take care of that separately… linux is free of that

Most of Apple software is integrated with their iCloud service (overpriced for sure). Windows users can do a very basic integration with iCloud for windows but it does leave everyone else out. You can still use iCloud on any system through a browser to access any of that data. Almost all their software is Mac only. If you buy Final Cut or Logic Pro and you want to keep using it because you like it, you will be stuck on Mac.(I didn’t really understand your point on this part)

Yes they do like to give names to stuff. A lot of companies do it to try to differentiate themselves other companies. Some of it is like grocery store calling their staff “associates“ instead of staff. I really don’t see that as an issue.

I am not fan of all the types of screws they use, I’m looking at you freaking trilobe. I do like the pentalobe though, never stripped one of those. I think using torx is superior to flat head or Philips as those strip more often when you get to smaller size screw heads.

I am of the view of using the best tool for you for the job. I don’t like to tinker with my phone and my laptop. I need them to be reliable. I tinker on my windows desktop My server is rock solid and so is my pfense router.

If you like what you use, that’s awesome you found the right gear for yourself.