After some time, the power port broke, which was fine because it was inside a waranty, but 2 years later, it happened again with the warranty having expired. Pc laptops actually shares this problem (source: I talked with a computer science teacher that has a phd), but apple were smart and uses a magnetic port. Essentially, it;s hard to break it, a lot harder.
But the main difference between a pc and mac is how they expect you to use it. A PC laptop, you;re kinda free, not as free as having linux (which you can do, but let;s just stick to Windows), but you are kinda free. The one thing is that from seeing how it happens, mac are USUALLY more durable. It;s mostly because of the construction material, but mac has some drawbacks too.
They REALLY want you to use it the way they want to. You have osx, but you can install another os like windows except it's honestly becoming complicated and you actually have to pay the license. osx tbh, is quite solid, it just doesn't let you do stuff as you would like Windows. It;s just kinda proprietary meaning if you like it, you'll love it,. but you;ll hate it if you just don;t like the way it works. The OS works kinda different than windows so, it might be a good idea to check the differences between both operating system.
The mac also costs higher, but do remember that it;s a trade off with durability, you get what you pay for essentially, it's just that for a pc with the same specs, you can save a lot of money if the durability isn't a priority ior you just think you can take care of your stuff.
As fro distinguishing bad pc and good one.....urgh, it really depends what you paln to do with it. A 1000$ pc for just using internet is clearly overkilled, but for playing demanding games, it might be a good option. it's basically if you plan to do a lot of multitasking, you might want to direct your attention on the RAM. I feel these days, 4GB feels the minimum, I used to have 6GB, but I noticed problem if I was tryign to run dolphin emulator and minecraft and chrome, and skype and.....yeah, you get the idea. More RAM gives more resources to take fro the system for that so now, I have 8GB and it;s really rare now that I used it all, but it's enough to do the msot demanding stuff I want when I need them.
For the hard drive space, really depends on yourself. If you want to store a lot of hd movies, you might want a lot of space, but if it's just simple stuff like photos or small games, you might not want to have too much. i had a 540GB hard drive for 3 years and it just was more than enough, now I have 840GB and it;s even more overkill, but I got another hardrive for like almost free (fun story).
Now for the graphics card, let me make it simple, if you care about demanding game, you might care about it, but personally, I don;t have much experience with graphics card, you might want to check online. If you don;t care, you might want an integrated one, it's basically a video card integrated on your processor. it does most of the job, but if you need really demanding game, you might want a pc that has a dedicated card for more performace, but it also might consume more power....basically, if you jsut paln to use internet, go for just the one integrated and no dedicated solution, it would be fine.
And the processor. This one.....it;s quite important. it;s the most expensive parts of any pc so in a laptop, it;s logicall that it might influence the price a lot. Basically, intel makes it a bit simpler for you, there;s i3, i5 and i7. idk how AMD one works, but from what I read, you might want to go with AMD if you want good gaming solution, I suggest to do research, but intel shoudl get you covered on msot stuff.
As for the number, it's quite simple, i7 is the best you can have for a given architecture, pick it if you want to have really good multicore performance, but form what I read, it won;t really benefit much gaming. Other application that uses more the processor like photoshop or rendering with premiere might benefit from it. i5 is basically the middle ground, it's more a sweet spot if you want and the i3 is really basic, but if you aim for just using internet.....it mgiht be a good option as you may have guessed, it';s cheaper. The other thing you migth care about the processor.....honestly, the speed, perforamance and the numbers of cores. Don;t think a cpu faster than another is better, it;s more complex so I suggest you do a bit of research, but the number of cores matters. Basically, the more you have, the more you can have multitasking, 2 cores seems today good, but 4 might help in some tasks.
And the last things is basically the phisicial stuff, the ports it has, the screen and resolution, etc....these are quite simple to figure out, the screen is simple, check the lenght and resolution.
that;s basically how I would start this, a pc can be available in a wide variety of config while mac are slightly more limited, it;s jsut mroe proprietairy. just make sure to check what you';re buying and the price. it';s like hard because it depends on what you need to do with it.