Cupertino is boring american suburb too, and as far as american suburbs goes, a bit shoddy and crappy. Not that urban.
Cupertino might not be the most active place in terms of things to do, especially regarding nightlife (which the most exciting thing is probably getting donuts at the 24/7 donut place on De Anza south of Apple's old headquarters). However, Cupertino has an amazing selection of Asian restaurants that you can't find in most American suburbs. We're talking authentic Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese restaurants. One of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area is Ajito on Bollinger Road near De Anza Blvd, which is a Japanese izakaya that specializes in chicken-based dishes. I go there regularly, and during the pandemic I bought take-out hot bento boxes, which are delicious! Another one of my favorite restaurants in Cupertino is a Taiwanese restaurant on Wolfe across the street from Apple's new headquarters called Southland Flavor Café. It has some of the best shrimp fried rice I've ever tasted this side of the Pacific!
I wish most American suburbs had the collection of Asian restaurants that Cupertino has. But outside of the Bay Area and Los Angeles, most American suburbs don't have that extensive of a collection.
Seriously, you put mountain view or cupertino in an average town in north america and people would think your in a lower-middle working class neighborhood that that has budget problems that is emptying out, with a large abandoned mall that just sat there empty for years until very recently and broken pot holed roads everywhere. It's bizzare. Even nearby Stockton, being famous for going bankrupt, has better road conditions than Cupertino on average. And cupertino has a company that is in the top 3 in global market cap headquartered there.
It's gone pretty far in Cupertino.
As to what is good about the SFBA, well it has great weather and still has a large concentration of smart people to hire.