I'm the guy whose Elementary OS post was on HN the other day -- and, incidentally, I tested it because I'm more concerned with upgrading my home desktop than my laptop, and because I need Docker, SSH, Visual Studio Code and Remote Desktop (the rest is all secondary) and prefer its looks.
(I also need to have something to use that isn't Windows at home to both keep an open mind and stay in the UNIX universe - which is how I got into OSX in the first place)
I work at Microsoft, wrote http://taoofmac.com for 14 years, and have a Lenovo Carbon X1 as my work laptop (which, incidentally, has a touchscreen I actually use, and USB A). I got it a year ago and had no choice in the matter.
I'm not crazy about my work laptop (I prefer smaller, more portable machines, and plan to replace it with a Surface i5 at the earliest opportunity solely because it's the most compact and lightweight machine on the roster with a decent enough display and battery life).
Now that I've answered your question literally, let me answer it in the way that makes sense for me, as a paying Apple customer: I want expandable hardware with standard ports and adequate performance for my needs.
In terms of laptops, the MacBook Pro Escape would satisfy only the latter (and even then I would prefer a better GPU).
I'm holding out for something like a new Mac mini (I prefer small machines, and like to pick my own displays), and at this point I am pretty sure I'm going to have to buy a bunch of dongles for it too (if it ever materializes) and that I will never be able to expand it.
I also find it frustrating that I can build a Hackintosh for _half_ the price of a current Mac mini that has a comparable (larger, but bearable) volume, fully standard ports, vastly superior repairability and much better performance (google for Snazzylabs hackintosh).
Most people complaining about the MacBook Pro do so because it doesn't match their requirements for performance (with or without Kaby Lake, GPU, battery or thickness compromises) or expandability (either aftermarket or lack of standard ports), and because expectations were too high regarding refreshes of _all_ the Mac product lines (even though rumors only hinted at laptops).
In short, your question has little to do with what people are actually complaining about. Even though macOS has evolved relatively little under the hood and recent versions have had a few more bugs than usual, few complain about the ecosystem or the OS.
We just want more powerful, expandable and flexible hardware instead of designer cutlery.
(And I'm going to be pretty annoyed if I have to buy a dongle with a MicroSD card slot on the end, too - THAT they would most certainly have room for.)