Cuteness aside, the out of the box experience with a mac is really good. Everything is polished and there are no nag screens when you first boot up. The first experience with a new Apple device seems carefully engineered to make the owner feel almost emotionally attached to it.
Contrast this to a lot of Windows laptops where your first boot requires running the gauntlet of nagware & cruft. The device itself might be just as capable (or more), but you've already either confused or annoyed the new user and reduced the likelihood of that immediate emotional attachment.
I know there are real business reasons why the cruft gets included, but I would argue that there are far more compelling reasons to leave it out.
The first experience with Linux, Ubuntu in particular, is also quite good. I think the reason for this is that, in most people's minds, Windows is the default; everything else has to stand out to even be considered while Windows just has to mostly work.
Contrast this to a lot of Windows laptops where your first boot requires running the gauntlet of nagware & cruft. The device itself might be just as capable (or more), but you've already either confused or annoyed the new user and reduced the likelihood of that immediate emotional attachment.
I know there are real business reasons why the cruft gets included, but I would argue that there are far more compelling reasons to leave it out.