@nixCraft In TCO terms they aren’t.

Sure, you can buy cheaper laptops, and I have done, but you get maybe 2 to 3 years of useful life out of them.

The MBP that I’ve literally only yesterday ordered a replacement for is a 2016 model. It’s been a fine development workhorse for all of that time, but Intel is being deprecated so it’s time to upgrade to an M3 Pro.

The old one will replace my 2009 model that is currently running ElementaryOS. And so on.