One thing which prevents me from choosing these is the screen form factor - I find 16:9 to be really uncomfortable for doing any kind of development work. MacBooks traditionally have 16:10, which is notably better. 3:2, as seen on MS/Huawei, is amazing, but their linux support is... flaky.

I have to admit that this was a bigger challenge that I wish I had paid attention to before buying. I have gotten used to it after about a week though. A little more scrolling that I like but not unusable.

For my hardcore coding work I almost never use the laptop screen alone though. Either the laptop is plugged into an external or I am using my desktop rig with 3 monitors.

The X1 Extreme is closer to the MBP and the 2nd generation should be released this spring.

I'm currently typing this response from a ThinkPad X1 Extreme, running Pop_OS.

I've been a faithful MBP user, and before that a faithful PowerBook user. My 2017 MBP was the last straw. While I appreciate Apple extending the warranty on the keyboard, it is entirely impractical for me to continue sending my primary work machine away for 5-7 days for repairs.

I went the with Dell XPS 13 for this refresh cycle. Typing on it now. Running Ubuntu 18.04 and its a great little machine. I can even use my already owned Apple USB-C to HDMI/USB adapter when giving presentations. I had switched in 2017 to using a Linux desktop full time for development and now I have the full Linux laptop again for the first time since switching to the Macbook in graduate school.

There is a bit of personal preference at play, but the XPS isn't quite the same machine as the MacBook Pro/Air 13"

We have a bunch of both machines, and the XPS is much thicker, not quite as deep, the fit/finish aren't even comparable, and the XPS has a plastic 'ring' around the unit that's easily chipped/scratch and they look beat up rather quickly

I considered both, and ended up buying a Razer Blade Stealth 13 - it's literally a black macbook that happens to run windows. The quality is definitely on par if not better(mhmmmm mat screen).

How is Razer's customer service these days? I considered their laptops in the past but was put off by the poor customer service. As much as I think Apple need to fix the MBP, their customer service is some of the best I've seen (albeit not perfect) for an electronics company.

Well, having just purchased the laptop, luckily I have no idea :-D and I hope I won't need to use it anytime soon.

Hehe, let's indeed hope you won't :-) Enjoy the new laptop!