Nice choice, Thinkpads are amazing!
My favourite exercise is cycling
I've used Linux for over 20 years, it just works and gives me the freedom I want, so there's no reason for me to use anything else.
I'm a happy IVPN user. Small team, privacy enthusiasts, transparent, great products. Just a heads up, some IVPN subscription tiers offer MailX (email aliases, like SimpleLogin), ModDNS (like Contro-D or NextDNS) and Portmaster (app firewall, and SPN network, inspired on TOR). It's hard to compete!
Pros: OS doesn't spy on you, better privacy, freedom, the OS will not tell you what you have to do. Just do whatever you want to do, change whatever you want to change.
Cons: Maybe gaming support, this is what I see people complaining. I don't game myself, so can't say much here. After using Linux for 20+ years, I personally don't have any cons. The OS works perfectly fine for both professional and personal life.
+1 for mailbox.org so far so good, managing own encryption key is a plus
I've been using Linux for more than 20+
First distro: Slackware, then Debian for many years, finally Fedora, since 2014, very happy user.
What I like in Fedora: the 6 months release provides bleeding edge experience without compromising stability.