Your software requirements sound like they dictate the choice. But I don't have those requirements, and my main dev environment is Linux. I ran VM Fusion on a

Your software requirements sound like they dictate the choice. But I don't have those requirements, and my main dev environment is Linux. I ran VM Fusion on a MBP, and I really liked that setup. The Mac was for play, the Linux VM for work, and I had everything in one box. Linux networking just worked. But my 2015 MBP was on its last legs, the new MBPs had really bad keyboards (butterfly switches, touchbar), and they are really expensive. I got a System76 Darter running Pop OS, and I'm very happy with the combination. The hardware is decent, much cheaper, and Pop OS is extremely stable and pretty. (At the time, the MBP didn't even go to 32GB, but that's been fixed.) Maybe get a Linux ThinkPad and run photoshop and Microsoft Suite in a VM?