Only if you need the touchbar. The non-touchbar model can be had for $2599, including the horribly overpriced 1 TB upgrade. If you can figure out how to use an external drive (Samsung T3 is $349, tiny and performance should be roughly on par with an internal drive), you can knock another $250 off that and still have the 256 GB that comes with the standard configuration. As a plus, the T3 is trivially upgradable when storage prices inevitably fall over the next couple of years. Even if you chose a Mac alternative with user-accessible internal storage, the process of swapping out the drive would be somewhat involved and require an OS re-install.
I've never understood the obsession with having a ton of internal storage in your laptop. I'd rather buy external storage since it allows me to upgrade my laptop independent of my data and makes migrations easier. It also saves money given how much cheaper external storage is and becomes over the life of the laptop.
I don't want to have to carry around an external drive with me almost everywhere I go, just so I can do my work and listen to my tunes. I don't have to do that now!
So the reason the replacement is so expensive is because you've coupled yourself to a particular OS and so your replacing a macbook with another macbook. Even though there being other cheaper and more powerful options.
I assumed that when the poster said replace the macbook, they were specifically talking about replacing it with the same thing. Obviously one can get a windows laptop with those specs for MUCH cheaper. Replacement in this context = replace with the same thing.
To wit:
"It would cost $150,000 to replace my Porsche!" You don't argue that one can buy a Nissan Leaf to replace it for $9k.
Sorry that's just not possible. There are gamer targeted systems that are better specs than anything apple ever made (even after market upgrades) in the sun $2k range.
The problem is, they don't run macOS. And if your whole work-environment is centered around macOS, it is not an easy choice to leave that behind, and consequently, hardware upgrades don't come cheap.
No, if he wants to be a replacement, one has to assume he wants to be compatible and keep using the applications he currently uses. Any non-Mac system might be an "alternative" but not a "replacement".
>There are gamer targeted systems that are better specs than anything apple ever made
Which is irrelevant. I don't a "gamer system". I want thin, light, excellent construction, and good battery life, great trackpad, and a good enough CPU/GPU to achieve all that.
Comparable Mac and PC systems for that cost $2000 and way up...