Also sales tax isn't dishonest. I have to pay it to buy the machine!!
This is a ton more money than what maxxed out macbook pros were around 2013 in €, and to be honest the total package feels like a downgrade.
I didn't say sales tax was dishonest, I said converting back a tax included price into USD was, and explained why. Aside from US sales tax being much lower than european ones (as low as 0%) US prices are pretty much always displayed without taxes, so you're making the machine look 20% more expensive than it actually is as far as american viewers understand it. A fair quote would have been to provide the regular USD price ($4300 maxxed out, or $3500 for 1TB).
Feature-wise, it feels like the 2013 device is worth the 2016 price and the 2016 device is worth the 2013 price.
That's completely nonsensical, Apple doesn't decide where you live and they don't set how much VAT to apply, they've got a "manufacturer price" and add VAT on top.
The point is that it is possible to buy it somewhere in the US without tax, whereas no such method exists in the EU.
What they mean to say is that VAT is included in the price tag in Europe, so when people see the € number they'll say "and that's exactly what it will cost" whereas in the US prices are before tax, so we will mentally inflate the number by ~10% when we see it.