I am not misunderstanding you. Your entire comment was centered around a perceived unfairness regarding price:
> most expensive version of their OS.
> they charge hundreds and hundreds of dollars for.
To be clear here, I'm not defending Windows. I agree with you that what they do is not constructive for their users. I'm merely pointing out it's ironic for Mac users sit on their throne and decry Windows' practices while paying significantly more for non-upgradeable Mac hardware when if you really gave a shit about security and privacy, you'd buy reasonably priced PC hardware and install a linux distro.
Last I checked, App Store is absolutely filled with advertisements that I didn't request. Why is it so significantly worse that Microsoft happens to place theirs within Explorer? I think both are rather frustrating when you already paid for the software and/or hardware.
Are you seriously trying to claim that Macs are overpriced by hundreds of dollars by trying to compare them against an ATX desktop? Or do you have some more reasonable comparison in mind of Apple and non-Apple products that actually compete in the same market segment, and where the Dell/Lenovo/HP/whatever is significantly more upgradable?
And do you have any reasonable complaints about the security and privacy of a modern Mac with the T2 chip, or are you saying that anyone who cares at all about security should run Linux and spend 30% of their time wrangling with SELinux policies?
Not a parent commenter, but I have some examples of upgradeability/repairability. Dell XPS line of laptops has upgradeable storage and screwed-in batteries. 15" variant has upgradeable RAM and wireless card. The keyboard is attached with screws instead of being permanently fixed to chassis and costs significantly less to order and replace yourself should you find a need for it. Similarly in the worst case scenario, there are replacement motherboards on eBay for $550 or sometimes less which you could again order and replace yourself (or upgrade your base CPU option with).
And both 13" and 15" Dells have a fingerprint sensor which is as snappy as Touch ID without being bundled with a thin strip of touchscreen and a $200 price hike.
That's because these laptops are designed to be serviced on-site by repairmen who are not always so bright. So I imagine, similar HP offerings are as robust.
Dell's and HP's phone support and warranty support are super awful, though, so this may be a factor for you. For me, the difference between a drink spill costing $600 (and I do it myself) on a $2500 Dell versus $1500 (and I have to lose my files/get a new system) on a $1600 MBP (both true stories) is significant and I'm not rich enough to go for latter.
> most expensive version of their OS.
> they charge hundreds and hundreds of dollars for.
To be clear here, I'm not defending Windows. I agree with you that what they do is not constructive for their users. I'm merely pointing out it's ironic for Mac users sit on their throne and decry Windows' practices while paying significantly more for non-upgradeable Mac hardware when if you really gave a shit about security and privacy, you'd buy reasonably priced PC hardware and install a linux distro.
Last I checked, App Store is absolutely filled with advertisements that I didn't request. Why is it so significantly worse that Microsoft happens to place theirs within Explorer? I think both are rather frustrating when you already paid for the software and/or hardware.