PC laptop durability vs. Apple laptop durability

That's too vague. OBVIOUSLY if you buy some plastic laptop, then the Apple one will be more durable since it's metal. But the toughbooks (how can I forget the company that makes those?! Feel free to tell me haha) are going to beat the Macbook Pro by a LOT.

So, maybe change it to compare specific laptops to the Macbook Pro (which I assume you want but you did show interest towards the Macbook air).

Apple laptops are apple laptops.

Windows is an OS that can be installed on any laptop made by any company.

So edit your question.

Depends on the PC you're buying, i would say if you bough a nice Lenovo thinkpad, (not the same as ideapad) or Toshiba toughbook, it would last just as long, if not longer than the Mac as far as hardware lifetime. However, PCs given their nature will need the OS re-installed due to viruses, malware or just general OS bloating about once every other year, as where a mac most likely won't.

The generic $400 13" laptop will probably run three years, but I have seen a couple last a bit longer, but I've seen 10 year old MacBooks (actually iBooks) still running.

All I can say is that if you want higher quality build, pay more than the cheaper alternative. If you like Windows, you can buy a really nice $900 Windows laptop that will last quite a bit (maybe 5-6 years), but on the other hand you can install Windows on a MacBook.

Personally, I'm pretty much all Apple. A friend just gave me his Toshiba laptop that needs to get reformatted, and the official Toshiba disk is reporting an error when trying to install Windows on it again. I don't have any problems with Toshiba as a company, but I hope you see my point.

It's your money (or the bank's money), and you should pick whatever's best for you.

Wait, what kind of durability are we talking about? If it's just in terms of how long the hardware will last to support the latest operating systems, all of them are about the same.

But if we're talking about how long the hardware will last when enduring everyday stress from regular usage, I'd have to vote for Toughbooks. Or pretty much any brand that has a similar line of laptops that cater to rough environments. Macbooks are a no no, since they're just like any other regular laptop but with an aluminum exterior(I think?). Yet again, I don't think you'd wanna get a Toughbook for regular use since they're usually priced much higher than similar specced laptops.

I'm glad you fixed the question. In general, it matters mostly of the OEM. Go for a crappy OEM, get a crappy computer... Hence Dell.