One concern I've heard about the move to ARM cores is that it is done in order to lock down the devices more so they're more like a phone rather than a computer.

Recent Surface ARM laptops do not seem to be locked in any way.

What does locking down the device have to do with the CPU architecture?

ARM based devices don't have boot anything you want like x86 platform - in practice.

Adding to this.

x86 Most random Linuix ISOs will boot on anything. I've seen software compiled before the hardware had finished being designed boot just fine. (in the latest case lstopo was very confused, but everything still worked!)

ARM, I go looking for a build for my chip/device in particular.

x86 I just buy hardware and it works, ARM I check for OS builds before buying, and wonder if the builds will continue to get updates.....

> Depending on how easy it is to run Linux on this as opposed to the new MacBooks may make this attractive for Linux users.

Why? Just to get ARM? Buy a brand that actually works with the kernel and distros to get their hardware working with linux. Get your money to the people that actually help the software ecosystem.

When you spent premium, put your money where it makes a difference.

For laptops, what I had in mind is excellent power management and efficiency, it seems to correlate with ARM but I think most people don’t really care for the details of architecture.

the new intel ultra whatevername 3 series seems to come a bit closer there, so the framework pro with its explicit linux support might be an option

I recently spent an equivalent of MacBook Air M4 price + import tax to get a linux laptop called Starlabs Horizon that advertises up to 14 hours of battery life. Maybe in a TTY it could do that, but in practice, I haven't yet seen any x86 laptops from any company, linux or not, to match even 50% of a macbook's battery. Realistically it's 4-5 hours like the rest of them. Not to mention that for that money I got a cpu that is a power equivalent of pre-M1 chip mac. Also they put speaker grills at the bottom (what were they thinking??)