I'm opting for a Thinkpad as it comes with great hardware customization options. But thinkpads are hard to get as it has high demand. Even in the 2nd hand market. Last November, I talked with a seller, he has a T480 in his collection but it has i5. I'm hoping he has other models and tiers of thinkpads with higher gen of i5 or i7.
Laptops that came in the market at around 2021-2022.