Computers run mostly from RAM and network. Unless you are doing heavy disk work, nvme isn't a big deal. You can use internal disk for temporary projects (compiling, video editing) and then copy the snapshot to external at end of day.
Tell that to my work iMac with a HDD (not my choice) and a new enough OS to require APFS. The only programs I typically have open are Chrome and a music player, and it freezes randomly, and Chrome is constantly waiting on cache.
It's not that bad … for what I'm doing, and I can do something else when the computer stalls. I've thought about an external TBT SSD, but doesn't seem worth it yet.
I dunno man, ssds are pretty basic fare these days. They have been standard for about a decade now. If an employer refuses to give their developers ssds to work off, that's a massive sign of disrespect IMO.
I agree with that! But I'm not a developer. I'm doing hardware repairs, and this machine is to read ticket notes and enter repair info and send emails (and play my music :-).