Three weeks ago I bought a new Sony Vaio laptop. It’s a dream, with Windows 8 and all its bells and whistles and bang for the buck. I brought it home, installed Office, Adobe Suite and such, and zoom. It would not boot up.
I went back to Fry’s and they confirmed it was kludge.
So, I decided on a 15” MacBook Pro. It works like a computer should. It cost more, but I can now rely on my computer.
Buy best; cry once.
In the end, you're probably still saving money. I got six years out of my iMac before my toddler knocked it off the desk and broke the screen. I could probably fix it if I really wanted to but it is so old I can't upload the latest version of iOS so I'm holding off for a Mac Mini. It was still running strong and virus-free though. MacBooks are the same way. You'll probably have replaced a Windows laptop twice before you need to replace your MacBook.