For backend I've stopped using frameworks altogether. I tried Laravel and Symfony for some time but in the end I ended up realizing that the headache caused by using them far outweigh their utility. This is the year I realized that a router is all I needed for my backend scripts to work.
Also tried many css frameworks too (bulma, pure, mg, etc) but ended up sticking with Bootstrap because I found it to be the most complete framework in terms of components, examples, documentation, and community.
The ease of use and the integrated webpack in vuecli has really cut our dev time.
I realised this year that Microsoft don't really care about it anymore so why should I.
There is good alternative hardware out there, my wife has a Lenovo T460 which I really like. I did try going down the Linux route but it is still lacking polish for a desktop operating system.