Step 1 to getting Mac fixed. Take it to Apple Genius who may well just fix it for free (definitely if it's under warranty and quite often if it isn't) or tell you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it yourself or where to get it fixed cheaply.

Assuming your problem isn't already solved, then Apple products are no easier than rival brands aside from being better built in the first place, having standardized parts, a simple range of models, and an active third party market.

I'm sure Microsoft has different levels of support, but I suspect everyone you're talking to is referring to Apple's standard warranty coverage. I'd rather have an Apple product with standard coverage than anyone else's product with "gold" or "platinum" or whatever they call it support. (From my experience of high-end corporate support the only benefit I found was that when I told the support person "assume I tried all that crap" (rebooting, reinstalling Windows, rebooting anything else on the network, etc.) he actually went off script and got to the useful stuff.