I transitioned from MBP 15" 16GB / 1TB SSD in Nov, as I found MACOSX too restrictive and dissimilar to Linux for my dev purposes. MBP was 5 years old and new MBP only allowed max 32GB RAM with concerns about butterfly keyboard issues. I use my laptop 7 x 14 on dev and it travels with me everywhere so no time to return for something that should not be an issue at time of purchase.
I purchased Lenovo P72 8GB / 256GB SSD 17" with 3 year warranty extension, like AppleCare, and have upped the RAM to 64GB (it is 128GB capable when the RAM becomes more affordable), added 1TB Samsung SSD and an internal 7mm 2TB drive. If SSDs fail, tends to be binary while a drive tends to fail over time (by sector / track) which the drive manages, so better for online backup.
Have installed VMware workstation 15 allowing a win / Linux dev environment and multiple Linux flavor installs. Since I still have two other macs, I have installed MACOSX on a VMware VM as well, using my existing appleID. Runs like a dream and can develop without being online.
I also install various flavors of windows to resolve subscriber issues where it relates to their OS.
If you buy the same machine and need to upgrade RAM under the keyboard, ignore the need for a keyboard removal tool. A youtube video allowed me to achieve that using two credit cards.
