Every product has its strengths and weaknesses. It also has its specific target market segment; size discounted. Apple products in my opinion are targeted towards a demographics appreciative of good design. Within this targeted market Apple seems to be uncontested. In this post I will talk about Macbook pro.
Let us start with the hardware. Macbook pro comes with a unibody aluminium frame. Wear and tear related issues such as deteriorating alignment of body parts, operation squeaks, etc are non existent by design (because there is only one body part and it is the whole body). There is attention to detail in every nook and corner. (For e.g.: there is a button to check battery strength without opening; there is a fine rubber padding around the screen border, etc)
The same is true in the software space too. You get the robustness and flexibility similar to linux and user experience better than windows. So in short the whole package is better than all the alternatives. If I talk about individual features, the length of the post might harm the user experience of this post :). So I would restrict myself to few features chosen randomly.
Dashboard:
There is a dedicated desktop page called Dashboard, equivalent to your office desk. You may place static elements such as world clock, newsstand, weather reporter etc there. The Dashboard is easily accessible any time by swiping 4 fingers left to right on the trackpad.
Notification area:
All notifications such as calendar reminders, application notifications, iTunes current record, newsfeed etc are collected together in a central place which is accessible by a simple 2 finger swipe from right to left on the trackpad.
Trackpad:
Trackpad response while scrolling webpages is in a different league altogether. Haven’t experienced this smooth response. Also the scroll is more intuitive. In the sense when you scroll down in the trackpad the page actually scrolls down unlike the opposite behaviour in windows.
If you notice, one key usability factor in the above features is easy accessibility of the various features. Mac makes it feel like you are really working in a single well integrated environment.
And finally Apple brushes its culture with the developer community too. Most apps in Apple universe are also very well designed in the Apple style. Few examples would be Ulysses, Fantastical, DayOne , etc.
Thus the culture of uncompromized high standard design permeates from hardware through software till the applications. Thus in the design area, It definitely deserves the crown. Wait, isn’t it already wearing it!
Y A B P 