[pfranz]

I was seriously looking at Linux laptops last year and ended up begrudgingly getting another Macbook Pro. Here's my perspective when I looked at Thinkpads;

There's a series: X, T, P, and A. I really hate when companies do this (I also think Apple does this a bit too much). "Powerful mobile workstations" or "Renowned professional tools" doesn't really help me narrow things down. Trying to seek these out in person, retail stores like Best Buy or the Microsoft store carry between 1 to 3 models total.

I never got the appeal of swappable batteries. I had multiple batteries about 10 years ago (mostly because one was EOL and I kept it around). Since it had to charge in the laptop I had to remember to swap it to keep both charged. I looked at external chargers; if it existed it was too much money (a few hundred dollars). This sort of workflow makes sense in a professional environment, like a photographer on set all day. That's what is done with camera batteries, but is too much of a pain for someone who just wants a bit of freedom from a desktop. I had a lot of skepticism when Apple dropped the removable battery; their swappable batteries lasted 5 hrs when new and had something like 200 cycles. The non-removable batteries had 6-8 hrs, went up to 1000 cycles, and were about the same cost to replace (and it was just a matter of unscrewing the case).

Even though I didn't like the new Mac keyboards as much as the old ones, I liked the Thinkpad's keyboard even less--which is a fairly subjective choice. The trackpads I found on every non-Mac laptop was objectively worse.

Connectivity: I really like that it charges with USB-C (I was quick to eliminate laptops with proprietary charging), but that's the only USB-C port. I never really found a laptop with 1 USB-A and a couple USB-C ports. At least for my use-case multiple USB-C ports and carrying an adapter works well for me now and I expect adapter use to decline over the life of use.

I was looking at the X1, which had memory soldered on. The laptops in the same "class" as the Macbook pro (size and weight), the PC versions used the same chipset and had similar compromises...which also meant the prices were fairly similar.

If, for example, you're looking for a chunkier and heavier laptop with swappable parts Apple doesn't make that laptop, but if general, if you like most of the concessions, similar models aren't that much cheaper and don't really offer that much more.

[komali2]

Right, I see where you're coming from. RE: connectivity, I think I'm misunderstanding you here, but the latest x1s do charge via USB-c, and come with 2 USBc ports and 2 usbA ports... and a headphone jack ;)

I just checked the laptop I'm typing this on to confirm this.

[pfranz]

I was looking almost a year ago so I wasn't looking at gen6. Also, it may have had 2 usb-c ports (one of a very few if not the only)...so I might have been mistaken about that, but eliminated it for other reasons. On that topic of headphones (afaik all Macbook Pros still have headphone ports), Airpods improved the miserable experience of bluetooth headphones by a lot...but I feel like it's still 2/3rds to where it should be. It also still sucks during those times where you don't have them handy and need other options or the fact game consoles don't support them. It sucks that so many phone manufacturers followed Apple's lead, there.

I hope PC laptops keep getting better because I'll check them out again in 3-6 years when I look to buy another. I feel like the new laptop is worse than my previous one in a bunch of areas that Apple used to excel at; no LED when charging (I've already plugged it in to charge while the other end was not plugged into the wall), wake time is closer to what I'd expect from a cold boot with an SSD (around 10 seconds instead of 0-3), I really dislike the half-height arrow keys, and the camera has the exact same specs as my 2011 model.

[sbuk]

They also have a terrible spongy keyboard and a horrible trackpad and cost as much as the MacBook Pro.

[komali2]

Weird, I have only found review sites that laud the keyboard (even sites that don't really give the laptop a good rating for other reasons). At the very least, they can certainly handle a grain of sand better than a new MBP ;)

It could just be your subjective experience, though! Aint nobody can come between a person and their feelings.