I'll probably get a Thinkpad and put Linux on it, but I'm not convinced any Linux is ever going to be quite as pleasant an experience as OS X used to be.
Linux's equivalents all have a fair bit more jank, to put it mildly. Even for terminals, you've gotta do some research and tuning or compromise on features to get something that's as light & responsive as Terminal.app.
* Libre Office is good enough
* Google docs are really good for collaboration.
* Google keep is really good for synching notes between phone and desktop.
* There are cloud-based implementation of libre office that I'm looking at to replace google services
* I really like konsole and yakuake as terminal application, and for me Terminal.app always felt ancient. https://packages.debian.org/sid/konsole https://packages.debian.org/sid/yakuake
* Okular is an amazing pdf viewer (there was a thread about it recently on HN) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19478623
* Firefox might not be as battery optimized as safari on Mac, but I believe all Mozilla's respect for user privacy makes up for the lost battery life.
Similar for Pages and Numbers vs. Libreoffice or Google Docs. They're faster, lighter, and (despite having spent more time using Libreoffice/Openoffice total in my life) easier to use effectively. Another case where I don't hesitate to open them because they're quick to open, don't hesitate to close them for the same reason, and can forget they're open in the background because they're so light and don't bloat or crash when left running. Notes versus Google Keep or whatever is similar—it's a real program that opens very fast and is respectful of resources when running, not some browserware junk.
KDE seems to be the most-integrated Linux UI but I've never managed to "click" with it despite trying since 2 (maybe something in the 1 series, actually? It's been a long time). I don't like the K-suite programs—they seem really heavy to me, and always have—and all the integration stuff goes out the window if you use others, plus then you're usually mixing GTK and QT which is rarely super pleasant. The "just works" integration of the K-suite has also never really "just worked" for me—bugs and inconsistency galore.
* Fonts configuration & tools -- https://wiki.debian.org/Fonts
* I've always found if the touchpad was decent enough all the gestures could be easily configured and supported
* Touchpad configuration and tools -- https://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad
* Connecting external displays stopped being wonky 5 years ago. In modern KDE this requires connecting the display and then opening display configuration dialog in System Settings.
* For color calibration, have you tried something like ColorHug 2? https://hughski.com/colorhug2.html A friend of mine has the previous version of it and likes it a lot, but I haven't had the need to calibrate my displays.
* Power management -- If you choose the hardware with good linux support.
* rootless/SIP -- there is selinux, but in general linux security model is different from apple, you just pick whatever technologies you more comfortable with and want to use.
>ugly fonts
I dont have a problem with ugly fonts. Default fonts in Gnome F29 are nice. I use it for dev/devops work, not graphic design so my stds are not exact. Could also be I don't know what a "pretty" font is ;)
>the lack of good touchpad support,
Mac touchpads have always been vastly superior to others. However, the TP Carbon X1 has a really nice touchpad/feel to me...close enough.
>the wonkiness on connecting external displays,
I don't have any wonkiness via chaining 2 external monitors via TB3/USBC - this might be a combo of better hardware in the TP?
>the lack of good color calibration,
not in graphic design so i can't comment here
>iffy power management,
Not sure what you mean here. Latest Fedora + maybe tlp is enough for me to get mac/windows type batt life. Sleeps fine/ wakes fine etc. no issues on TP Carbon X1 (or previously on T47x series)
>and lack of rootless/SIP
AFAIK this is a pretty unique feature to macos
But you should be able to find a range of models available from 2011/2013 - 2016 refurbished at a number of dealers for much cheaper than a new model—if you don't think you need the CPU upgrade, etc.
I wish these guys were available to Canada: https://www.macofalltrades.com/
Thankfully there's a guy in my neighbourhood who has been doing the same thing for a number of years (only on a much smaller scale) who I'll likely go to in order to replace my ailing 2013 MBP soon enough.
edit: You can even find replacement 2011's for not far past $1000.
I got an X220 with Hackintosh as a backup. What a lovely keyboard!
Let's add to the anecdata: all those who've now moved away from Macs after being burnt by the keyboards and all those who are waiting to replace their Macs when this butterfly nonsense goes away.
Sometime in the near future, I'm just cutting over to an iPad for the majority of my work, I think.
(I also replaced the fans because they were too noisy, but that didn't help. Closing browser tabs did help though. I still haven't replaced the battery, despite it's been telling me for years now that it needs to be replaced. I don't think there's anything else that can be replaced.)
Aside from the reboot problem, I'm happy Linux at least comes with up-to-date tools. Apple's GPLv3 phobia meant I had to continually install Brew and Continuum (Python3) to have modern tools.
Commonly known as the "keyboard lottery", some units get a decent keyboard and others a crappy one. And it's still a $2k+ machine.
Other options might be T480/T490 series - for "close" to X1 thinness the T490s (T480s) are an option. I previouly had a T470 and also had no keyboard issues
Dell XPS dev editions are nice but I prefer the TP keyboard
I switch between GNOME, KDE, and i3. I think GNOME and KDE are as pleasant, if not more so, than macOS.
Its workable but its not like ballet.