I agree that what matters most is UX and battery life, but these are not fixed and are actually pretty malleable, otherwise the only thing that would beat a mbp

I agree that what matters most is UX and battery life, but these are not fixed and are actually pretty malleable, otherwise the only thing that would beat a mbp could only be next year's mbp. I had a laptop with terrible battery (desktop replacement) and it was great for my use. I also have a xps13 and it's great. I also had a mbp15 and it was great too. As you guessed, I had a different use case for each. If I had to spend my money, would probably be the Acer as long as battery was ok.