I was a ThinkPad maximalist in my personal computing life for the last 5ish years.
This year, I needed to interview for jobs without having access to a "work" laptop for the task (i.e. an overspecced MacBook Pro).
Faced with the prospects of subjecting my ThinkPad/vim machine to video calls, I more or less immediately decided to fork over the money for an M2 MacBook Air.
Unfortunately for my identity as a person invested in my principles, it's been a delightful experience. I'm glad that I have my ThinkPad (and its stack of batteries) in the closet – it'll always be there, and work exactly as I want it to. But I can already tell I'm going to drive this MacBook into the ground over the next 10 years.
I know that I won't be able to repair it when it (eventually) degrades, but the diff of convenience in day to day ops pays for that inconvenience, in my experience. YMMV.
It's such a consistent experience I don't think you even need the YMMV qualifier.
Source: I also own an M2 Air and have been blown away by it's performance in "day to day ops" as you call it. It is by a wide margin the best laptop I've ever owned (previous 6-7 laptops were all personal/work macbook pros)
I mainly attached the qualifier to account for the cost of one's "inability to repair when [the MacBook] eventually degrades".
For some people, meditating on this reality causes them a great deal of consternation. As somebody who consternates on that topic myself, I empathize with it deeply.
For people possessing a will more galvanized than my own, no improvement in day to day ops is worth the pain of working on a platform like this. I don't think my experience speaks to them.
For people like you and I, who are willing to seriously consider the trade-offs, and for whom the up-front money isn't an immediate concern, I agree it's almost a no-brainer.
I think it speaks equal volumes on Apple's ability to produce world-class hardware at scale, and on software vendors' collective inabilities or unwillingness to produce quality videoconferencing software that works gracefully on older technology.
This year, I needed to interview for jobs without having access to a "work" laptop for the task (i.e. an overspecced MacBook Pro).
Faced with the prospects of subjecting my ThinkPad/vim machine to video calls, I more or less immediately decided to fork over the money for an M2 MacBook Air.
Unfortunately for my identity as a person invested in my principles, it's been a delightful experience. I'm glad that I have my ThinkPad (and its stack of batteries) in the closet – it'll always be there, and work exactly as I want it to. But I can already tell I'm going to drive this MacBook into the ground over the next 10 years.
I know that I won't be able to repair it when it (eventually) degrades, but the diff of convenience in day to day ops pays for that inconvenience, in my experience. YMMV.