I am selling my gaming desktop and considering buying something for work/study purposes only, preferably (I am 80% sure about it) a laptop.

Having a 2017 MBP at work, I am really disappointed in it's keyboard. To the point that I don't want to buy a Macbook for personal use.

Having used Macbook laptops for years, I was sure I will be able to quickly find some good alternatives. But after spending some time on Google and Youtube, I am really confused at this point. Let me explain why.

All I need is a laptop with around-the-house mobility to browse Web, to learn and experiment with different programming languages, and to work on some side projects (web/backend) of mine. No heavy video/photo editing, no more gaming.

I need it to be able to connect to an external screen without any weird dongles, to have a really good, comfortable keyboard and touchpad and not to cost a fortune.

It should run Linux smoothly, but maybe I could also use WLS on Windows as I don't have any strong preferences for UI because in the end it's only me, browser, terminal and an editor.

Now, it has confused me a lot that these simple requirements are very hard to satisfy, apparently!

What I've found so far:

1. Thinkpads X/T series
Seem to be very solid machines, nice keyboard and specs. But in the new generation, Lenovo went the "anorexia" path which not only increases the price but also makes them less upgradable with the solidified RAM slot. Also, the line of T machines with the "s" suffix doesn't make sense to me as they are so similar to the X series. I don't get the point.

The price tag easily climbs up to almost 2k euro with i5, 16Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD and WQHD (2560 x 1440) display .

2. Surface Book 2
Looks super good, but as I've mentioned above I am still not sure about developing on Windows with the WSL and considering that realistically prices start from 2k for this laptop - it simply is too much for a machine that I am going to use at home for a few hours a day.

3. Dell XPS
Seem to be solid machines, mostly.
But same issues as with Thinkpads - everything is optimized for the size and weight, which makes it less upgradable and more expensive.
And let me tell you that I owned Macbook Air for 5 years - I know that a low thickness is a very nice quality, but it's nowhere in the list of my priorities. I can easily trade it off for better specs.

Also, I keep reading about their coil whine problem.

Price gets easily close to 1,7k euro for the 4k version, which is much better than others on this list, but how good is Linux handling 4k if I decided to go with it?..

4. System76
Not expensive, a bit boring looking (not necessarily a problem but counts), and I am reading a lot about a not so good keyboard which collects dirt and is hard to clean. Don't know how true it is, though.

Battery life is also rumored to not to be good, even though it's not that important to me.

Not convinced by what I've learn about them so far.

5. Purism
I really like the idea but at 1.5k euro with specs matching those of others mentioned above, I am actually not sure it's a good deal, considering the low battery life and an average display quality.

Is it?

It's probably not a full list but as you noticed, no laptop here costs less than 1,5k for very unimpressive specs as for today's standards.
Maybe I am just spoiled but a Macbook Pro with such specs costs ~2k. And if the keyboard hasn't ruined it - it's a very high quality machine made of solid aluminum with 4k display and superb trackpad. So how can these alternatives cost almost the same with their 1080p screens?..

But it's ok, I would go with the price if it was a work laptop that I need to use for 8+ hours a day.

But as for a secondary machine, sitting at home for most of the time, I really don't want to spend this much!

If you had needs and struggles similar to mine, what have you gone with? And how happy are you with your choice?