I recently wondered the same thing to replace my 15" 2014 Macbook Pro Retina. I went with the 2018 Lenovo Carbon X1 (16GB, WQHD, i7) and ... it's awful. Linux doesn't work due to a bug in the trackpad drivers, for which there is no reliable fix yet. And, I personally just can't stand Windows (that's a whole different rant). Hardware wise: the sound quality is so horrendous that even watching youtube is a no-go (think dollar store earbuds). That's on low volume, on medium-high volume, in addition to the audio quality, the whole case resonates making it very uncomfortable to even type. And, even though the battery life is rated at "15 hours", with just normal browsing and text edit I get 4 tops. Also it gets really really hot, for no reason (CPU < 10% utilization) which makes using it on my lap a no go. Some of this might be forgiven if it was actually faster, but it isn't. In day to day use it feels /slower/ than my 2014 machine, by quite a big margin (opening files/apps, input latency, jittery animations, even things like running an IO intensive task locks the whole machine, etc) ... that's probably just Windows though. I'm too late to return it, and if I were to sell it on craigslist or something I would probably not recover the costs reasonably. So for me the answer is "no". Nevermind the atrocious support Lenovo gives here in Europe. I ordered it end of February, I got it 30th of March. I ordered the extended warranty, but they want you to register the serial number within 30 days. Which was impossible since I didn't have the machine, the phone number was unresponsive, and the email replies took several days and got back with broken English and non-solutions to the problem. So that was 300 euro for extended warranty down the drain right off the bat. Mind you this was ordered from their official website (which also, incidentally, doesn't work in Firefox with uBlock Origin and uses the /worst/ payment gateway I've ever seen).
I'm probably going to try to get the latest 2016 (I think?) Retina model if my 2014 machine breaks, and see how long that lasts.
I know the barrier to entry is enormous, and there are fundamental problems with doing it better than Dell etc (patents), but a hardware startup that builds better laptops would be great. It feels so silly, but it's a solid reminder for me that consumer hardware progress has definitely stalled; a 2014 machine performs equally, if not better, than a 2018 one in the same price range.
Sound is really bad in the Lenovo t4xx(s) series as well. Had multiple, sound always was bad. The resonating was always there as well, some models better, some worse. Dampening with foam inside the casing sometimes did the trick. But it is not recommended because it might produce heat problems. Oh and yes, foam loves to burn (although there would be enough materials that won't).
I'm probably going to try to get the latest 2016 (I think?) Retina model if my 2014 machine breaks, and see how long that lasts.
I know the barrier to entry is enormous, and there are fundamental problems with doing it better than Dell etc (patents), but a hardware startup that builds better laptops would be great. It feels so silly, but it's a solid reminder for me that consumer hardware progress has definitely stalled; a 2014 machine performs equally, if not better, than a 2018 one in the same price range.