A Thinkpad T42 is not in the same realm as a Macbook Air. That being said, a working dev setup for $80 is pretty cool. Even still, I've gone from doing full gentoo installs from scratch to Ubuntu, Windows, Mac, and lots inbetween and for my time and my effort, I'd rather just use a Mac.
I'll pay for a well designed, reliable computer, so that I can do my job and get paid very well for it. Not having to muck around with Linux settings, drivers, config, etc. means I spend more time writing code and billing time (if it's client work).
If your time is worth anything, you probably aren't saving anything by going super cheap with your tools.
I haven't ever had to mess with drivers with Mint and my x230. I did spend time to set up i3 and configure it to suit my workflow. I view these as "sharpening the axe" types of activites, and don't really understand why I see so many people saying they don't want to spend any time at all customizing the device they regularly use for 10+ hours a day.
The only thing to miss about osx over linux is the font rendering, but I'll trade that for a tiling window manager and a proper package manager any day.
+1 for mint. I had been using Ubuntu since ~2006. Got annoyed with the direction they are taking. Installed Linux Mint. Didn't even have to install or configure anything for my wireless mouse/keyboard. Literally zero configuration, except for setting my preferences. I don't really understand the prevalence of Macbooks in web development. It's awesome hardware, but it's expensive. As far as software, there is nothing I am missing.
I'll pay for a well designed, reliable computer, so that I can do my job and get paid very well for it. Not having to muck around with Linux settings, drivers, config, etc. means I spend more time writing code and billing time (if it's client work).
If your time is worth anything, you probably aren't saving anything by going super cheap with your tools.
That being said, to each their own.