Being around colleges, I have heard MacBooks derisively referred to as “$2000 Facebook machines” - the hardware is there to render videos, edit photos, compose music, build software, etc., but all the user wants to do with it is browse Facebook. From this discordance arises derision.
Maybe the derision for Windows is in some way the inverse: users want to do all that other stuff, but the OS just wants you browse Facebook (TikTok, Twitter, news sites, …).
I will say the cost of MacBooks has fallen through the floor with the new Apple Silicon. My M1 MacBook Air was $1,100 for 16/1TB. I'm not sure how much good Windows laptops go for these days.
Last time I bought laptops was for my kids at beginning of pandemic. They used them for school and stuff for the past 3 years. Both costed $500 each and they still use them to this day. Though I went for a Ryzen 7 instead of Intel, so maybe that's why I got that good of a deal.
Maybe the derision for Windows is in some way the inverse: users want to do all that other stuff, but the OS just wants you browse Facebook (TikTok, Twitter, news sites, …).