I've heard that as phone upgrades come through they degrade the phones on purpose, slow the processor, diminish battery life and so on, just to get people so annoyed they buy a new one...It works too. I had my MacbookAir for over five years and towards the end it was a little shitty but I thought five years was a good deal; I hope this HP lasts that long. I think you'll go well with your MacbookAir.
I looked at the Surface/tablet thing but ended up going with the Surface Laptop thinking it was more suited to my needs, and it was...I just didn't expect it to degrade so quickly. Lesson learned. I hope this HP is a better one; I did some research, asked around (not the guy at the store either - lol) and I think it'll do the job.
I thought of you, (happens from time to time) and your big rigs and even thought for a time about a desktop compute (old-school style) but I wanted portability as I move about the place a lot. I have a laptop for work and all, but I often take my own too as I never do personal stuff on my work computers, they're encrypted and secure and all - no place for anything non-work related.
That Framework lappy you linked looks pretty good, I like how you've got it all planned out. I Don't go to that degree with computers but I generally start saving for a new one the moment I buy a new one knowing that I'll need a new one when my current new one isn't a new one any more. Lol.
Long live the HP lappy, may it provide a millennia of service!