In my on-off relationship with apple hard- and software, I converged on some specific usage patterns and have now formed a sufficiently refined opinion that it warrants a fresh review of the apple ecosystem. Apple makes great hardware that I can readily recommend to anyone willing to invest into multiple of their products to get a polished out of the box experience. Where apple falls short is the software availability and in the details of their synergy.
These are just basic bluetooth headphones. The Airpods 3 also have a much worse earbud shape than the 2s I also own. They fall out constantly. Synergy? Nonexistent.
Airtags are a fine addition to a collection of apple hardware. I treat them like insurance for my wallet and keys, as in I will probably never actually need them, but when I do they will make a big difference. Synergy? Strong.
The things I noted in the apple synergy section of my X86 vs M4 Benchmarks post still apply here, but my perspective has changed slightly. Sure, having a synced productivity trio of notes, reminders and calendar is nice. Apple also greatly simplifies at least wireless file transfers from phone to pc compared to an android plus linux combo. If I were to constantly make photographs, this would be a great choice, easily outweighing its downsides. Similarly, if I was a startup founder or in some other position where I need a maximalist productivity system that easily syncs between phone and PC, the M4 Mac Mini would be preferable.
Annoyances accumulate on the software side.
If I want to do any semi-serious work, macos is just inferior to linux.
If I want to do any semi-serious play, it is still inferior to linux.
Not all emulators I know and love for retro gaming are available on mac os. Let's not even get to all the steam games that don't work.
Similarly, basic scripting tools from the gnu coreutils and util-linux are missing in mac os.
Emacs is also less performant and has slight compatibility issues on mac os.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still skeptical of my long term career investments in IT and am divesting into other options, so I don't care nearly as much about coding productivity on my pc as I did two or three years ago. I am however still a technology enthusiast that appreciates diversity and change in his software environment. Perhaps it is this tech enthusiasm that still gives me friction in mac os.
One further point of synergy I want to mention here is that continuity camera does indeed work if you wire up the iphone.
The iPhone 16e is a great phone with easily 2 days of battery life. The Apple Watch Series 9 at least has a fresh battery, but still only lasts a day and a night, certainly not two days.
I am still of the opinion that the iphone and apple watch, while mediocre in isolation, easily beat any android plus smartwatch combo for every day use, especially if you also want to do health and fitness monitoring. I will keep these for the foreseeable future.
For anyone that would label themselves a technology enthusiast, let alone IT professional, my advice is to not bet on a mac as your sole computer. It is fine as a secondary device, and does have some nice interplay with an iphone, but this synergy does not elevate it to be a superior choice over an X86 linux system, not even with the great power efficiency and cpu performance of the m4 chip.