I think the average consumer does notice the amount of crap that pops up when they boot their brand new computer, and gets frustrated when they can't remove it easily.

Sure, but if you've been using Windows for the past 5, 10 or 15 years, it's always been like that.

There was a nice period with devices like the Surface or "Signature Edition" hardware sold through Microsoft where you could get a minimally fucked up Windows install from the factory.

But it turned out that was just the intermediate step between "quit gunking up our OS with so much awful garbage and spyware" and "because it should be gunked up with our awful garbage and spyware."

I think any given day here you can find at least one article getting attention that, no, it has not always been like that and has been getting worse. The most obvious being the Recall debacle. That is in my memory the first time outrage got big enough that Microsoft had to walk back an entire feature they were trying to opt everyone into by default.

No, but the average consumer does Google "what laptop should I get" when they want a new one, and I think at least some of the people writing those lists do consider the downsides of Windows.

When I Google that the first result is from the Verge, and they recommend a MacBook Air because "The Apple MacBook Air M3 is the best laptop for most people — Mac users, of course, but also the platform-agnostic or anyone who wants a no-fuss, straightforward machine that doesn’t bombard them with advertisements or bloatware."

> I’d guess lots of people upgrading from Intel Macs

Why would you guess that? It's +22% Mac marketshare, not +22% Apple Silicon Mac marketshare.

Apple hasn't manufactured Intel Macs since 2020.

Someone upgrading from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac doesn't increase Mac marketshare.

This is year-on-year for Q1. If I want whatever Macs I bought in Q1 '24 to net out neutral here, I need to have bought an equal number of Macs in Q1 '23.

Per a sibling commenter, Apple did still sell Intel Macs throughout Q1 '23, so it's possible for the earlier set to have been Intel and the later to have been M-series, which we could count as the upgrades you describe. Intuitively it seems difficult to imagine very many people would have done this, but to set an upper bound we would need M-series vs. Intel share figures for Q1 '23.

The last one to be discontinued was the Intel Mac Pro in June 2023, after the Intel iMacs and Mac Minis were discontinued in 2022 and early 2023.

Fair, it would have been more accurate to say Apple shipped no Intel Macs in Q1.

Obviously, because all macs now sold are Apple Silicon.

Someone upgrading from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac doesn't increase Mac marketshare.