One has to consider the total cost of ownership for the average user as well. Most of the people who come to HN probably know how to avoid or clean up malware on a Windows machine, but your average computer user doesn't. Macs are the perfect mix of usability and obscurity that keep them relatively stable in the hands of the less internet savvy.

Case in point, my landlords have an old AMD64 (single core, 2.4 GHz, I think) system with 1 gig of RAM, running Vista. For the past five years, they've called me at least four times per year to come out to their house and clean up browser extensions and unwanted software that piggybacked on other program's installers. I don't charge them since I consider it a favor, but each time they pay me at least $50.

So that cheapo computer cost them $1000 over the past five years. They could've spent less than that, up front, and got a middle of the road refurbished Mac and likely would've never (or rarely) had to call me at all. I've suggested this or a flavor of Linux too, but they're afraid of change. Instead, they recently bought a little Dell netbook running Windows 10 for $270, and I expect the calls will keep coming.