I think apple BTO prices are competitive with large laptop vendors but not with Framework. For example a m3 pro 16”/96gb/2tb costs 7700aud. A dell with 64gb and 2tb costs at least 6000aud. hp zbook with 64gb/2tb costs like 8000aud and that’s after discount. Obviously the dell and hp may shine in one or two things but are probably inferior in many ways. I’m not sure how warranty stacks though, applecare for 3 years is 650aud, and that’s definitely something i would purchase.

I reckon there’s apple tax, but I also think it’s competitively priced.

Framework 16” is significantly cheaper if you diy.

Edit: Now that I'm at a laptop and not on phone I could check on the warranty situation. The Dell come with 1 year standard warranty (which is better than Apple's 7 complimentary 7 day), but the XPS is 420aud for 3 years, and the Alienware is 735aud for 3 years. HP situation is better with a HP Care Pack with 3 year support/warranty for 190aud or 270aud depending which model you choose.