When faced with the same issue (optimizing for time wrt computer setup), I moved from a thinkpad with Arch Linux to an M1 MacBook + headless Ubuntu server under

When faced with the same issue (optimizing for time wrt computer setup), I moved from a thinkpad with Arch Linux to an M1 MacBook + headless Ubuntu server under my desk. Truly best of both worlds in my experience- incredible battery life and everything ‘just works’ for normal workflows on the MacBook, and can ssh into the headless Ubuntu box directly or from anywhere with internet. Depending on your dev needs, this anecdote may be useful: I’ve exclusively used vim and VS Code with a remote server extension to target the Ubuntu box for builds and I haven’t touched the setup for 6-8 months. Also, if you’re willing to spend some time learning, getting into Nix ends up saving time in the long run as your nix shell definitions should provide replicable user / build environments on top of whatever Linux flavor you happen to be running at the time, for the headless dev box