I agree that Apple products cost more than normal people want to, or can, pay.

I was able to write my Mac off as a business expense because I’m a book editor, and my last (and unlamented) Windows machine had died of disc failure the very day I signed a fat contract for a new project.

With a massive manuscript due to land within the week and a demanding deadline, I had zero time to shop around, let alone learn Linux. Time is the second-most important factor in a business spending decision, and the extra layout was justified when new Mac arrived the day before the manuscript did. I had it up and running, stuffed with specialized software and bookmarks, when the FedEx driver rang the doorbell. That was three years and dozens of seamlessly installed updates ago, and I’ve never looked back.

So far, it has not shown the slightest sign of malware, and its various proprietary on-board blockers spare me endless twiddling. The Windows computer the Mac replaced had to be sanitized almost daily to get rid of parasitical toolbars and similar hijack adware. None of that on the Mac.