When I still used a Macbook - a long time ago now - it was fussy about what printer you could use, what USB sticks and other devices it would 'see'. It would create a sidecar file for every file on your computer (that became awkward when transferring files to a memory stick and to non-apple devices). I think more recent versions of OSX seem much more reliable and more windows-like, 10.5/6 were pretty shoddy really and 10.6 Snow Leopard was their 'Vista', and just like Windows used to be, they needed to be reinstalled every 18 months to keep performance up.. The upgrade to Lion made a big difference, and Apple devices have been much better behaved since then.
I switched from the Macbook to a Dell XPS in 2014 and it was such a relief to have a machine that would do what you wanted in the way you wanted it to. No more issues about which external monitors were approved, no problems printing, email that didn't do strange things sometimes and a laptop that didn't get too hot to sit on your lap when playing DVDs (or refuse to give the disc back if it couldn't recognise it). Also I bought next-day on-site business warranty for 3 years for £50 less than Applecare that required me to take the Macbook to a store, where they would suck their teeth and tell you there's nothing wrong with your computer and it will cost £70 if they send it away and can't find a fault.
The M series chips give Apple a big advantage in performance and for that reason I'd consider one. But otherwise, my experience with Apple computers was not good (haven't even mentioned multiple versions they sold with known faults in graphics chips and the butterfly keyboards). To be absolutely honest, the only computers I ever found that 'just worked' were running Linux, because they aimed for broadest compatibility for their user base.
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