Are there any reasonable alternatives to MacBook Pro for developer?

I absolutely love my 15" Surface Book 2. It's fast, virtually silent, the keyboard has a good amount of travel, the trackpad is very responsive and of course it doubles as a tablet since the entire screen is detachable.

The screen is exceptionally sharp and bright. I typically dock mine to an HP 34c curved monitor. I've been very pleased with it.

Sure, there are various laptops like ThinkPads and Dell XPS that work fine for Windows and Linux developers. They even have escape keys.

I use a "Hackintosh". This buyer's guide can help you if you want to build your own or by a PC that would work well[1].

[1] https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/building-a-customac-h...

why people ever considered macbooks good for development apart from "my company gave me one"?

macbooks never had decent keyboards, even when apple fans considered their keyboards good.

it is almost 2019 and macs can't do very basic stuff, like not dropping ssh connections when you walk from a meeting back to your desk. well, not without installing a dozen apps that clutter your status bar, just like a windows 90s computer...