Or are we still going to pretend that a computer that you don't own, because Apple tells you what software you can and can't install on it, is somehow better for development?
Android/Linux, ChromeOS/Linux, WebOS/Linux also work great for the same reasons.
Other than that, better leave it on servers and embedded devices being a UNIX headless clone, with cloud and hardware vendors taking the trouble to keep it running.
Yeah so this is indicative of the fact that you don't really have ANY experience with modern Linux. You can take a well supported laptop and install Linux Mint on it and everything will just work, no tweaking required. Try it sometime before making 10 year old arguments that Mac users were making back in the day and apparently still do now.
Furthermore, Id go even further and argue that as a developer, learning how to configure basic documented things should be something that you know and is fairly straightforward for you to to do, just like installing tooling you need for your development.
https://www.idgshop.de/linuxwelt
As usual we get the answer,
"Have you ever tried distribution XYZ?"
The magical one that will sort out all problems, and then doesn't.
You must be doing something wrong if you are having to tweak kernel parameters.
There is also Framework laptops, and Librem laptops that are linux first.
My current DD is an Ideapad with Manjaro, which even being somewhat more bleeding edge than Debian based ones, has not only been flawless, but things like Nvidia Optimus work straight out of the box, with external displays.
…except for AMD ones with AMD GPU :( https://www.wezm.net/v2/posts/2020/linux-amdgpu-pixel-format...
or Intel ones with a particular wifi card https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=203709
I however agree with you that at least for me, the Linux desktop on almost all laptops and desktops "just works". Especially when comparing with Macbooks - you have way less hardware choice there.
Can I install Ubuntu?
So the definitive answer is no, Macs are still pretty much locked down.
I get that people like the battery life and the hardware of Macs, which is fine for personal use, but objectively for a laptop that is going to be used for development, you get much more utility out of buying a "non mac" laptop of your choice in the form factor, and installing Linux on it.
In macOS, I am not prevented from running whatever I want. There are some extra buttons to click to allow certain kinds of software to run, but ultimately, Apple doesn't have a say on what I can and cannot run on my Mac. Macs aren't "still pretty much locked down" because the open source community hasn't been able to make a kernel up to your standards. That's just not a commonly accepted definition of "locked down".
It's been getting way better lately. I don't daily drive it mainly because I've yet to move my stuff from the macOS partition.