[PaulDavisThe1st]

This is precisely the right reformulation of the actual question.

Apple's competitors are already ahead of of Apple in terms of pure performance. "Catching up" is only a thing if you care about the performance/power ratio.

[jmiskovic]

Yes, but the performance/power is extremely important for laptops. As a long time Linux user I'm seriously considering migrating to Mac just for the laptop staying cool and silent after hours operating on battery.