Although due to Apple's design and Mac OS being so tightly integrated, they do manage to make memory go a little further than you see elsewhere. It isn’t true when people say things like "8GB on Apple silicon Mac is like 16 on Intel," but it is true they do a bit better than an Intel with 8GB. If you have a Mac with 8GB RAM and a Windows laptop like a Dell or something with 8GB RAM and use them for the same tasks, the Mac does handle memory much better, mostly because it is faster memory and in a unified setup on the chip, plus some of the optimizations Apple does in macOS with compressed memory and such to make good use of resources.
But still, it doesn’t justify them selling with 8GB in 2024. In my opinion, it should be 12 or really 16GB minimum for future-proofing as their machines are not cheap. It’s not so much that 8GB is awful for basic use, as for office work and stuff like that, it is “fine.” It’s more that it’s at the bottom of the acceptable range for the future, and if you’re going to be buying a computer, you want it to be useful and usable for 4+ years minimum. In my opinion, 8GB today is “acceptable,” but in 3 years? I don’t think so. We’re already at the point where 8GB is the minimum, and as you can’t upgrade it, you are buying something you’re already hitting limits on, so it isn’t future-proof at all as it has no room for growth. It’s bullshit business and marketing to advertise a lower price at the end of the day. I do really like the Macs and think they’re fantastic machines, but I do wish they would be a bit more genuine and start at 16GB, even if that means just having a higher starting price.
You can use the Mac just fine without any other Apple services or accounts. iOS is different as that is more heavily tied to iCloud, which many complain about. Apple is a bit more subtle with how they get their claws into you. They make things work so nicely together that you want to use all their ecosystem features. They show off all these nice things you can do with an iPhone, an iPad, and a Mac all working together, which makes people want that experience, which obviously you don’t get if you have a Mac and an Android phone. But I happily used just a Mac with no other Apple services or software for years with no issue, so you can do that if you want. To Apple’s credit, they don’t make it difficult to ignore their stuff; just drag it off the dock and you basically never see it again.