For what it's worth, my first Apple was a IIe, followed by a 512K Macintosh, and I still have a first-edition NeXTWorld magazine I bought at the time.

The definition of quality in the Apple world isn't quite the same as in the nerd world, much as an Alfa Romeo fan and a Toyota fan may mean different things by quality. Joy and reliability both matter, and it's very easy for people who value them differently to end up talking past each other.