I think this article is a little misleading. I'm running a 2010 Macbook Pro that still works great. But the only reason I'm able to do so is because of its upgradability. Over its life, I doubled the ram and swapped in an SSD.
The Macbook Pros sold today do not allow HD upgrades. (I'm not sure about ram.) I doubt they will last as long as my current one has.
I think this is a common path for MBPs of the same age. I've got a 2009 model and upgraded the HD to SSD and memory a couple of times. The processor can feel a little sluggish but it still handles what I need it to. But that's not really special to macs. Hardware just got to the point where it was mostly good enough. Not being able to upgrade the new MBPs does make me think twice. Either I fully load it and pay the premium or risk feeling I need more of XYZ later.
Something I do like about my MBP, even after quite a few years of abuse it still looks in decent shape. The case, screen hinge and keyboard all still feel solid. Which is where lots of other laptops seem to fall apart. Though the battery and trackpad have seen better days. Something nice about macs is they are usually serviceable for quite some time, either via Apple or third parties - I needed a new power adapter recently and could walk into a shop and get a new one there and then. Trying to track down power adapters etc for short lived models from other manufacturers can often be a pain.
All in all I don't think it's anything magic about macs. If you bought a similarly specd and built machine from someone else you'd be in the same position.
I'm in the same boat, with a 15" Mid-2010 MBP. I would love to be able to have a Retina screen, but if I do, I'll no longer be able have dual drives. I'm running with a 512GB SSD and a 1.5TB HD. I like being able to have all my photos and all my music with me. I also have the no-glare screen, which is a big win.
I like the thinner profile of the Retina, the much upgraded internals, and 16GB RAM, but it's just not worth the sacrifice in onboard storage. At least until there's a reasonably affordable way to have a cloud-based Lightroom workflow.
You can buy HD upgrade/replacement kits for the newer models from sites like iFixit and OWC. In that respect I think they tend to beat comparable PCs; I was recently looking into this question for an HP laptop I was considering buying and found that it had the drive soldered to the motherboard.
I believe the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard for all newer Mac models.
The Macbook Pros sold today do not allow HD upgrades. (I'm not sure about ram.) I doubt they will last as long as my current one has.