My first Apple purchase was a 3rd Gen iPod Classic. It was the first of several iPods I had over the years.

I bought my first Mac, a refurb MacBook Pro Core Duo 2, in 2007. It saw me through a long bout of unemployment during the Great Recession. When it finally died I could no longer afford a Macintosh, so I went back to a series of Windows machines.

My first of three iPads was an Air 2 (followed by a refurb 2018 Pro 11 inch, and now an Air 4). My first iPhone was a classic SE, followed by an XR.

Finally I took the Mac plunge again in late 2020 and got my M1 MacBook Air, a machine that makes me very happy.

Earlier this year I took the Plunge on a Watch SE (great purchase) and just a few days ago got AirPods Pro, which are flat-out amazing.

It's not just about good design. It's about good design and great performance. It's about value. Do you spend more money on an Apple device than a Windows or Android device? Probably; in some cases, certainly. But the features, performance, support and longevity are often superior to non-Apple products.

I got rid of my iPhone SE because I anticipated (wrongly) that it wouldn't be supported in the the iOS 15 era. I passed my iPad Air 2 onto my Windows-loving son for the same reason (and he only watches video on it). Both devices still worked.

I expect my more recent purchases to continue to work for years to come as well, thanks to Apple's long device support and generally excellent built quality, something I didn't get out of my last Windows machine (a Dell Latitude 13 2-in-1 that cost as more two years ago than my MacBook Air did).