BLUF
I believe the best productivity comes from the ecosystem developed by Apple. The products, hardware and software, provide the tools out of the box needed to be an effective engineer but also an effective user of technology. When I say ecosystem, note that my personal laptop, work laptop, phone, watch, tablet, and primary television streaming device are all made by Apple. Their devices are sturdy, light, powerful, and just integrate well with the rest of my life. I did not mention my headset as I am still using a very capable pair of Jabras I got for my birthday a couple of years ago, but when they inevitably begin to fail, I will almost certainly replace them with the newest AirPods Pro (Ed: I did eventually do this). I do not use their Time Machine product (my NAS does many duties, this among them) nor any of their wireless gear (Verizon FiOS provides a free Wifi 6 Router for FiOS customers). I have started using AirTags, one in my Eckster black-leather wallet and one in my laptop backpack.
Why?
I cannot begin to share how much more productive I am when I can use my watch to answer the phone or unlock my laptop, or get phone calls on my laptop, or hand off the webpage I was reading on my Macbook's Safari to my iPhone as I walk out the door. Or the ability to use iCloud and store my credentials. Or iPhoto to keep my photos and movies synced across all my devices. Or the crucial advantage of iMessage over text messaging when all I have is wifi and no cellular connection. All of this is conveniently managed by one company, with privacy and security at the forefront of everything they do, and a unified product vision that makes it hard for even the more discerning users to find those rough edges where things do not just fit together nicely.
Why Not Something Else?
I was a Windows user until 2011. I even railed against Mac users as being entitled with their virus-free expensive nonsense. But when I stated at ComiXology, James Jackson said "get yourself a Macbook Air" and so I was given an 11" Air and never looked back. So portable, so powerful, and a great introduction to the world of Unix. Plus a 128 GB solid state drive and 8 GB of RAM was fairly decent at the time. I could stuff that thing into the pockets of sweatshirts, jacket pockets, small bags, almost anywhere, and it weighed nothing. Windows ME and Vista had been total failures, and while Windows 7 and Windows 10 were excellent, the fact that I still got the occasional BSOD made me sad. After that, I rarely touched Windows again until the pandemic, when I found the OneMix 4, a tiny 10" Windows mega machine that was far more powerful than it's frame suggested. My sole need for this device was to install GOG and Steam so I could play all those games that continue to elude the Apple ecosystem. But M1 and M2 laptops are by far the best computing devices I have ever seen or used. I have a 13" M1 8 GB Macbook Air and want for nothing. If I was serious, maybe I would get a 16 GB M2 Air next, but this was a great eBay find for under $550, and I see no reason to part ways with it just yet.
I had many Windows phones in the early days. From 2004 to 2010, I must have gone through at least 5 or 6. Compaq and HTC made fantastic devices for the time with TFT displays and incredible processing capabilities. But when the iPhone 3GS came out, I took it for a spin. It was nice, but not good enough to compel me. I dove into Android phones for a couple of years. HTC deserved at least one chance, and I was on Sprint with one of the first LTE phones. But the iPhone 4S came around and now I was a convert. I would never again have a primary phone that did not come from Cupertino. As an aside, even my car has CarPlay, which I use on occasion, and always find it useful and ever-improving. Amazon and Apple would do well to collaborate more here instead of arguing whether Siri or Alexa answers my questions.
The Apple Watch was therefore a no-brainer. I have had 4, and loved them all, whether they included cellular or not (although obviously I prefer that, the cost is non-trivial at $100 more for the watch and a good $150 more a year in cellular charges). I had been dreaming of smart watches when I was 18, had backed all sorts of watches on Kickstarter and IndieGogo (Vea, CUCKOO, etc), and found all of it fascinating. It was natural that I would want the Apple Watch. If I were an Android person, the Samsung ecosystem comes close, it seems, but I have no first hand experience.
The practical realization of the idea of a tablet is really only 13 or 14 years old at this point. In 2009, sure, you could get some larger screen device made from a hodgepodge of parts running some hacked together Android 2 or maybe Android 3 variant. But when the iPad came out, the entire game changed. To that point, and even after, I primarily used those 7" - 8" knockoffs. Eventually, I tried an iPad, but found it too big. Then I waited a bit for the iPad Mini which I loved at the time. Again a device I could slip in a pocket, now even in some of my jeans, thin, portable, with enough storage to hold anything I wanted. But it too, could not get the feeling right to mesh with my consumption style. For many years, I had no tablet, then I tried again in 2018 with a full size iPad and the original Apple Pencil. That definitely helped a ton. Now I could sketch and take handwritten notes easily. Plus a great case, great battery life, it seemed perfect. But having to carry that AND my laptop quickly put that dream to rest yet again. My son uses it now, mostly to play games, occasionally for something more serious. But it's a big part of our family. Movies on flights, games on car rides, even some reading for school and pleasure.
I have had an Apple TV since it was possible to have one. Each of the 4 generations have been in my entertainment center. There really was no better device. But you have many players in the field now, ChromeCast, Fire TV, NVidia, and dozens of NUCs and similar devices trying to be the entertainment hub. Back in the day, Gateway 2000 had a television-based offering with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I was enamored with the concept. Then came WebTV, which I also owned. The Apple TV handles everything quite well, my only gripe being the cost. That's why I throw in the $30 FireTV Sticks where needed, see below.
Exceptions
Having worked at Amazon, I am also a fan and user - I pay for Prime, and what better way to enjoy it than to use FireTV Sticks, FireTV Cubes, and Echo Shows and Dots littered throughout the home. There is something satisfying about calling for "Computer" at any time and asking for anything I might need. That said, I can also raise my watch and just ask Siri. Most of my home automation devices, when I had them, were not connected to HomeKit, but instead to Alexa.
Dreams
There isn't much Apple could do at this point. Here's my wishlist, which I hope may one day come to fruition. It's clear that convergence is in Apple's future (M2~A17) and soon the difference between a phone, a tablet, and a laptop will be physical characteristics at best. At that point, the dream once dreamed with the Morotola Atrix or Ubuntu Phone may become a reality. A Macbook Shell where you slide your iPhone in and suddenly your phone becomes your laptop. Or a dock at home where your keyboard, mouse, and monitor(s) await. A tablet with a slot on the back, or even a foldable screen to double your screen real estate or create a larger keyboard. The next thing would be embracing touch technology. I know the displays of Macbooks make it slightly more complex to enable multi-touch technology, but the iPad Pro is a beautiful device, and I just want that in a Macbook form-factor (some would say just add the Magic Keyboard but I guess I still need macOS for it to be what I expect from my computing device, so I need the touch screen on my Macbook, and not a keyboard for my iPad Pro). Next, I'd like to see streaming extenders for TV-like devices. Don't make me buy $150-$200 4K Apple TVs for each TV, instead let one be a central hub and sell $40 streaming extenders to consume the same content. Then I could toss all the Fire TV Sticks if I felt like it. Finally, the watch. I know most people will not agree, but what I want is a bigger watch. Ideally, a 50-55mm screen. If we could get over the hangups of wider screens, I would be interested in a 60-65mm version that was wider instead of taller (the 45mm model about 38mm by 30mm viewable but a 65mm model could be 40mm tall and 50mm wide). With 32 GB of memory, that could do quite a bit.