I have more concerns but I anticipate that general users might not care about them:)

I am not a fan of MacOS myself. I would much prefer to run Linux or a very customized Windows installation.

However, for most normies, I believe MacOS is the better default experience over the bloated, ad-ridden thing that Windows is these days.

And unfortunately I cannot get any similar hardware that would run Linux or Windows... nothing fanless even comes close and that is unfortunately not about to change, so as someone who really likes their quiet, I have to bite the bullet...

If the notch is the only objection of yours, well they really must have done a good job. I cannot believe Apple is the budget and bang-for-your-buck choice in the laptop world these days. At least in the phone world, that is not the case, fortunately.

With "general users", I suppose you imply that they could accept MacOS.

I have one objection: the notch. General users disliking the notch won't buy this notebook no matter what.

Probably the best laptop around $1000 for general users.

- silent, no fans
- a very good CPU/GPU with amazing efficiency and single-thread perf
- amazing battery life
- a good bright display with reasonable response times
- quality speakers
- solid workmanship and hardware overall
- 16 GB RAM / 512 GB fast storage as the base configuration, which is actually enough for most users (much better than 256 GB)

There is simply nothing similar in the Windows laptop space. I would struggle to recommend Windows laptops to anyone around the 1k price point, basically it is pointless. And skimping a couple of hundred to buy a loud, slow, creaking, terrible Windows laptop is not a good idea, unless you really really cannot afford it or use it once a month.