Far more expensive than Windows laptops? I haven’t looked in a year or so, but last I checked, to get a Windows laptop with a good screen and build quality, you would also need to spend close to (or likely more) than 1,000 USD.
Yeah that's the reality. It's true that Apple hardware is expensive, but the reality really is that you can buy less expensive and also cheaper products than Apple sells. But if you want to buy something of the same quality as an Apple product, you're paying Apple-like prices.
There are cheaper Android phones than the cheapest iPhone, but if you want iPhone-like specs and vendor support and build quality, you're paying $600-$1000 just like Apple charges. You can buy $200 Windows laptops or Chromebooks but if you want the MacBook-like performance and vendor support and build quality, you're paying $1000-$2000. Compare the excellent Galaxy S to an iPhone, or the excellent Dell XPS (or X1 Carbon or Surface etc) to a Macbook and you'll find similar excellent performance and similar excellent build quality for a similarly expensive price.
The reality is that Apple only competes in the higher end of the markets. There are cheaper options but anything that's directly comparable to an Apple product is going to be priced similarly to an Apple product.
iPhone-like performance at least - an iPhone will feel at least as snappy and performant as a flagship Android, but typically with 1/3 of the RAM (flagship androids have up to 12GB of RAM).
