So collecting a browser and some terminals on a desktop and then having a different desktop with a browser for another purpose doesn't work.

Not sure when the last time you used it was, but this works fine. I regularly have 2 desktops for VS Code, 3 with Chrome instances (across multiple monitors), and 2 with Firefox.

The biggest weakness IMO is that the entire OS is designed around touch gestures. If you want to use a mouse, your experience will just be worse. But even the touch stuff is lacking options, so you have to use third party things like BetterTouchTool.