I have a mid-2014 Macbook Pro which I love (although given Apple's direction I may switch to linux). I haven't found any hardware that really compares with Apple's products on build quality and just the pleasure of use (from the screen quality to the responsiveness of the trackpad and everything in between).
I normally have it plugged into a 24" Dell monitor but got rid of my Apple wireless keyboard and magic mouse because actually prefer having my laptop in front of me and the larger (primary) monitor above it so I don't have to move my neck/eyes along the horizontal rotation.
As for an environment, I mostly programme with node.js and use docker to contain my databases, rabbitmq, etc.. All my config is stored in my dotfiles [1] anyway so setup is easy (and I basically live in my terminal so homebrew + zsh + tmux + vim sorts my life out perfectly). [1]: https://github.com/gfarrell/dotfiles