I'll never understand this. If you want value for money why even look at apple? Never mind nuances like planned obsolescence.
For $999 you now get 8 gigs of RAM, SSD that is faster than most competitors, a trackpad that is better than any competitors', and by quite some distance, the best battery life on any laptop. I get something like 20 hours when I'm reading PDFs or using emacs indoors, and about 12 hours of web browsing.
There's less QA issues than most newer laptops with the Air since Apple has been making it for years, and it's still one of the lightest laptops in the field without compromising on too much. The resale value is also higher compared to equivalent laptops because of the 'Apple' brand, so that offsets the buying price to an extent.
Coming to the OS, while it's far from perfect, it's not a privacy nightmare like Windows nor a battery drain like Linux. Linux on a desktop is something I like, but on laptops they still suck a lot of battery life compared to MacOS.
TL;DR: If your idea of a laptop is a portable device that runs smoothly, handles low to medium level workload and lasts(literally) all day, the Air is a solid pick.
1) The ability to run 3 operating systems, and the best laptop operating system, MacOSX. I mostly run MacOSX, but still write shell scripts, use Unix applications, and occasionally run Windows 10 when I have an application that's not on the Mac, but only under protest because MacOSX is so good.
2) Excellent build quality, I've dropped it numerous times without a chip, crack or problem.
3) Retina screen, high resolution that is easy on my eyes, no tiny fonts or misshapen images. Plus while I have Retina on my main screen I'm coding on two 24 inch monitors connected to it.
4) Magsafe.
5) Excellent ergonomics. Trackpad, keyboard are top notch.
6) Far fewer worries about viruses.
7) Far from being quickly obsolescent, Apple computers retain their value far better and longer than other manufacturers. Mine is three years old and I'm no where near considering replacing it.
8) etc. etc
I bill $85 an hour. Has my productivity been enhanced more than 1/4 of 1%? Way more. Have I gotten more work because of the quality of my projects? you betcha.
Any professional who requires a computer to do their job should always buy the best possible computer to do it with. The extra cost is trivial in comparison to professional wages, the benefits in higher performance are always easily justifiable.
If you work a minimum wage job, sure, get the cheapest computer that meets your needs, that makes sense to.
If you are a graphics designer perhaps retina display matters, as a developer which you also seem to be I don't ever think "wow the font rendering is holding me back".
And linux has few viruses etc.
My time is worth far more to me than the cost of a Macbook.
I get the same thing from [ThinkPenguin](https://www.thinkpenguin.com/), though the OS isn't linked to the hardware in any way --- they just choose free-software compatible hw.
So yah, did I just drop ~$2,500 on a new MBP? Yes. Did I enjoy spending it? No, but I also want the thing to "just fucking work" and it's a tiny fraction of my income considering my last Apple laptop lasted me almost 4 years... before I dropped it.
Are you implying that PC laptops require you to "dick around with drivers?"
If so, you are basing your logic on non-facts.
Driver updates have been integrated with Windows Update for at least 5 years, now.