Intel MacBooks were overpriced, under powered, overheating junk. They ran outdated processors at launch day and charged a premium because they had the best screens and track pads money could buy.
Apple Silicon Macs are a 180. Fantastically fast and efficient hardware stuck with an increasingly locked down OS, zero upgrade path and still a premium price.
If you’re holding on to the memory of Intel Macs I can certainly agree, they were not great.
Outdated processors or Super ULV processors? Their obsession with maximizing battery life meant that the processors were unable to throttle highly. Clearly they knew Apple Silicon was coming so they took their time re-engineering the devices. Why bother? At the same time i've heard stories of Apple being very pissed at Intel for delivering such poor chips for their target thermal design.
The trackpad is a device-selling feature though. They really are that much better than the competition.