I did do some reading before posting. Here are some of the threads I had read before:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21302412
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28861949
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28216287
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28023345
None of the threads seemed to have a consensus e.g. some swear by the Dell XPS 13, others say the laptop has been a crap experience more or less. Others still prefer Lenovo Thinkpad variants, and even these have those who've had negative experiences. I was hoping for a winner of some sort or at least a list of recommended laptops that I can bookmark and spend time reading reviews of. Hope that makes sense and sorry for the inconvenience caused.