That said, I'm ready to move over to a Linux Desktop now if Apple ditches the product entirely. I don't want to, but I know I'll do fine with it.
The whole App Store / iTunes archipelago, the willful rejection of expandable and [easily] user-serviceable hardware design in favor of a 'form before function' approach, the related planned obsolescence strategy [e.g., older hardware simply will not run recent software; new OS breaks older 3-party software], and the ghastly overpricing were among the factors that drove me off.
Mainly, I liked MacOS because I prefer putting work into projects as opposed to maintaining my own system, and MacOS "just works," until it doesn't. These days though, I run an idiotresistant distribution of Linux on my productivity machine, a minimal one on my 'learning' machine, and am generally more content. Also, running Linux, I feel less like I'm directly interfacing with a villain from 'Black Mirror'
It's been a death by a thousand cuts staying with Apple these past few years. iOS is completely locked down (and shows no signs of relenting) and I only see them moving MacOS in the same direction. Their sub-par, insulting hardware offerings only further cement my view that they no longer give a crap about what the Mac used to be. So, like you, I'm out. It was a fun ride. I've been on-board since System 7.
Good call on the Thinkpad -- after I got my T61 in the mail a few weeks ago and realized immediately that its ergonomics were vastly superior to my MBPs' which cost a heck of a lot more, I was like "gee, maybe I should have taken a hard look at this issue sooner..."