This article reminds me of my interview for workstations at HPi. I came away from it knowing that I had to work there. The interview was 5 hours: 4 one hour sessions and lunch with the team. I didn't write a single line of code the whole day. Every question came with the disclaimer that the answer was less important than the thought process.
Disclaimer: I work there now and my opinions don't necessarily represent my employer's etc.
I work for HP so take this with a grain of salt. Have you seen the HP Spectre x360? I was in the market for something very similar to what it seems like you're after. I was completely willing to use another company's device if it was better than what HP makes but we actually came out as the best value for money. The screen flips around for a decent tablet experience, it has thunderbolt 3 with power delivery and a pretty good feeling keyboard.
Battery life is approximately 6 or 7 hours with light use.
As far as I know, we also offer Linux installations but I always recommend installing your own.
Disclaimer: I work there now and my opinions don't necessarily represent my employer's etc.