I spent a little bit of time looking for true alternatives to a MacBook that would fit my needs, but there really aren't any. Once you check out laptops with 16+ hour of battery life, then add a bright, HDR, color-accurate display, then add the performance of the M-series chips (which are not THE best, but certainly close to the best options from AMD and Intel), and decent speakers, there really isn't anything to compete.

A base 14" M3 Pro is around $1750, which isn't that far out of line for high-performing laptops in general. If someone needs something cheaper, they can get a used 14" M1 Pro for around $900-$1k. Also, if you're someone that already owns an iPhone, it's kind of hard to even see why you would go with something else unless you are required to use Windows applications or want to play a bunch of AAA games.

I'm beginning to think that people that diss MacBooks are just people that never owned them.

For people that are really struggling financially, but still want the above features, the 2020 13" M1 Air w/16GB RAM and 256GB storage can be found for about $500.