Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be fair, most of those other laptops aren't made by a company that's famous for meticulously stressing details and restricting hardware configurations so that consumers won't need to research or worry about internals. The PC vs Mac hardware dichotomy is best summed up as, "Apple gives you less choice so that they can exercise more quality control."
That PC vs Mac dichotomy really doesn’t carry into pre-built PCs and definitely not into pre-built laptops and other portables. Both have a responsibility for quality control.
Dell sells way more PCs (in much more varied configurations) than Apple does. They're generally more repairable, and they're generally cheaper. They're also willing to let you max out specs and build weird configurations; configurations that arguably don't always make much sense. That range means they also sell a few objectively cruddy laptops, so you need to be careful and read reviews and do comparisons before you buy.
Apple positions itself as different from those companies. The comparison I'm making above isn't something that only self-building PC nerds understand; the same explanation is what I give to regular consumers who are trying to decide whether to go with Windows or Mac - people who will never try to build their own stuff.
"Should I buy a Windows PC or a Mac?"
"Do you want to spend a lot of time researching brands, reading reviews, and thinking about hardware specs?"
I think the point still stands that Apple is positioning itself in a different category than companies like Dell. If not, I'm gonna have some complaints about that $3K price tag.
The closest comparison is something like the Microsoft Surface - an expensive, premium device, with low repairability and configuration options, but (theoretically) increased reliability with a streamlined experience that "just works" out of the box. When the Surface line has problems, I put more blame on Microsoft than I would put on a company like Dell in an equivalent situation.