N.B. I realize this experience is not typical of most users.

I had an IBM laptop before I had a Mac. At least one major component had to be replaced every single year for the duration of the four years I had it. Keys broke. the screen was shite. Windows crashed constantly. I lost all my files multiple times. After having it for more than a year it ran as if someone had permanently applied the brakes and it was just grinding against them and no amount of service seemed to be able to fix this. I spent weeks searching for the specific charger I needed only for the company to ship the wrong one, then when I had to replace it a second time they no longer manufactured it so I had to buy one second hand. That machine was an utter sinkhole of money and time. I swore off Windows products that day and have not spent a dime on them since. Maybe things have gotten better since XP but I'm not about to risk it.

Now I have a Mac. I have had the same MBP for 6+ years and it has never once required service, it runs perfectly, has never lost data, and has been a charm to work with. Sure, it cost me 2x as much as the IBM but in cumulative costs that is nothing. I could easily see this laptop lasting me another year at least.

I am not saying you are wrong, just providing my experience in which the cost of ownership in money and time has in fact been lower.

Just how long ago was this? IBM laptops all used the same charger for about a decade now, the only difference is that some models require a higher maximum wattage than other. They changed over to a common connector around the same time Apple switched to MagSafe from what I can tell.

For me, owning a Mac has a much lower cost of ownership in terms of time. I boot up the computer and it's ready to go.

I don't need to reinstall the OS or download an uninstaller to remove bloatware. I don't need to install antivirus (yeah, this one isn't required, but the reality is that there is much more malware targeting Windows). I don't need to wait for Windows Update to finish before my computer shuts down or boots up - these are particularly painful. I don't need to worry about programs scaling to a retina/high DPI display. I don't need to spend time reading articles about how Windows 10 is tracking me and how to prevent it. I don't need to worry about my laptop breaking, because if it does, I'm a genius bar appointment away from getting it fixed. If my Samsung laptop breaks, I need to ship the whole thing, likely wasting weeks.

Not everyone experiences these issues, but this is how it feels for me. I made a very gradual transition to OS X - owning PCs, building PCs, using OS X on my PCs for almost a decade, then finally buying a Retina Macbook Pro.

> I don't need to reinstall the OS or download an uninstaller to remove bloatware. I don't need to install antivirus (yeah, this one isn't required, but the reality is that there is much more malware targeting Windows). I don't need to wait for Windows Update to finish before my computer shuts down or boots up - these are particularly painful.

While some of your points are valid for *nix setups as well (in terms of hardware, etc.) you've implicitly made the assumption that the only alternative to OS X is Windows, which strikes me as somewhat off base in a place like HN.