> After spending time on Apple’s M1/M2 Macs (coming from a large x86_64 desktop), going back to x86_64 feels like a regression, both in performance and battery life.
This seems like a flawed premise.
Battery:
Yes, MacBook battery life is really good, but only when you're not doing CPU-intensive tasks. Browsing the web, watching Tube or Netflix, it's amazing. Once you're compiling a bunch of stuff the battery performance tanks and seems just like any other notebook computer.
CPU: Intel Mac performance was horrible, M* is terrific. And so are the latest from AMD Ryzen.
Regardless, FreeBSD is a fantastic OS in so many ways!