Free? I bet the late Steve Jobs wouldn't have had any of that! Apple already has (or should I say had) more than 100,000 hours of free lectures from the finest schools (and some others) on tap at ITunes University. But now they're moving to podcasts so these resources will only be downloadable onto Apple devices - no more for Windows etc. Thing of the past! https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208029 If Apple offers it - I'll shun it. That's been my rule since Day 1. Don't like the vibe.
There are a number of silly leaps in there, but one of the standouts is: "Apple is already 60 to 70 per cent there. It has the brand and it would attract incredible applicants." Like, ones who'd prefer Apple iPad University to Harvard? Come on. But the real problem here is that Apple has no incentive to do this when they currently sell many units to universities. Why eviscerate one of their own markets?
I have a MacBook Air, because I wanted a light netbook sized laptop with great battery life and it happened to check all my boxes the best. But I'm not a fanboi, and I remain wary of them probably for similar reasons to yours.
That's OK, Steve - whatever suits your purpose. My son loves his Mac Mini, doing flawless duty since his last PC died of exhaustion. My granddaughter has a MacBook she uses for college. Both my sons' families have a couple of IPads each. We're all still talking to each other... Only thing that gets to me - finally being so old I have grandchildren in college! Better than the two alternatives, I guess - grandchildren who don't get to go to college, or ....
If it is FREE, perfect for me. I have iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, MacMini for my workstation, Apple TV, Apple Watch and my kids have Apple iPad mini's. I have stayed away from Windows systems since 2012 because constantly restore the OS in order to make it run faster.