The "build quality" means it looks nice, but it sure isn't durable. If you spill liquid on an Apple, it's a dead machine. If you drop an Apple, it's also dead. Thinkpads can survive a hell of a lot more abuse.
Every time a friend or colleague asks why I use "that" I simply thrown my laptop to the floor, pick it up and continue working on it.
Then I ask them to try the same with their Apple laptop.
That normally makes them never ask such questions again.
I learned that from an IBM (and later a Lenovo) sales person when presenting the X series. It's designed and built to tolerate real use. And some abuse :-)
I've used laptops for the last 10-15 years, often 8+ hours a day. I have not once dropped a laptop during those years. I'm completely okay with having a laptop that disintegrates when dropped and is better in other ways (thinner, lighter, longer battery life) as a result of not focusing on resistance to drops.
I guess it depends on your laptop. I dropped Macbook once (it was closed and there was a big scratch on case), but otherwise I'm very careful with it. I didn't drop my iPhone either. But when I owned old indestructible Nokia phone, I dropped it few times a week, just because I didn't really care. If I would own indestructible laptop, I might drop it as well sometimes. If I'm laying on bed with laptop and I want to sleep, I have to carefully position laptop on the floor. But I would happily threw it away, if I could, it would be so much easier.
Definitely agree on "If you drop an Apple, it's also dead.", but "If you spill liquid on an Apple, it's a dead machine." hasn't been true for me: Spilled a whole glass of water on my MBA which was running and it immediately turned off. After drying it on the heater for half a day it turned back on without any problems or damage.
Check out Louis Rossmann's Apple repair channel on YouTube. The vast majority of boards he repairs are broken because of liquid damage (he does actual board-level repair using microsoldering, unlike Apple which merely replaces everything). It's definitely a huge problem.
I don't believe that I actually want improved performance. I just want a smooth laptop that is thin, has long during battery life, and is price competitive. Essentially a MacBook at a reasonable price.
That's maybe not a great comparison, it's a different class of product with worse battery life and much heavier. The MacBook Air has been optimised for a different use case.
The closest real comparison is the MacBook Pro to the Surface Pro, in which case the MacBook is better at every price tier(expect for the touchscreen which is totally useful).
