They were among the best in terms of both specs and build quality. I thought the display was particularly good. The touchbar intrigued me. And probably the biggest issue: I really wanted to get away from Windows and the apps I use regularly were available on Mac OS. I also had some experience with Macs from the lab I worked at and from grad school, so I knew I’d be able to reorient myself quickly though I was certain that the OS had undergone significant changes since I last used it in grad school (I was right!). When I had previously used a Mac, I really liked the ease of adding tags to files. It is a massive pain in the ass in Windows to add tags and really make use of them. Now that I’m back on Mac OS, I’m making rather extensive use of the file tagging and smart folders. It is insanely useful for me. Since I was largely motivated by a desire to get away from Windows, I’m sure someone may have the question about why I didn’t switch to Linux. I’m familiar with Linux. It used to be my primary OS and I used to work on a supercomputer that used Linux. My needs have changed and Linux didn’t have the software I wanted to use and the “equivalents” were very poor substitutes to the titles I wanted to uss. Primarily when it comes to graphics software (Serif Affinity). I’ve come to prefer the way Mac OS works over other systems and at this point plan for my next computer to also be a Mac.