well my 2019 Macbook Pro has 4 cores, i5, 8-256 and cost about 1300 dollars. Its weight is 1.37kg
For slightly higher price, I get M1 8CPU and 8GPU cores, 16-512, weight of 1.29kg and longer battery life.
I am quite happy with the choice, it is total upgrade.
I was ready for 8GB, my current Intel notebook is just fine with 8, but as Logic Pro and FCPX user, it helps to have more RAM to be future proof, even if I do most of work on desktop i9-10900 with 32GB RAM, 8GB video card RX580.
Crazy thing is that M1 has higher benchmarks than my Intel desktop in some regards and of course, Intel notebook.
So I will probably use it for few years for next two generations of Mx processors. I am very glad to have more storage. 256GB is clearly quite limited. 512 is much more robust for my needs.
I saw MPB 2021 and its way more expensive and powerful, than I want.
And I also don't want colored and maybe plastic MBA in future as rumored.
The wedge design is perfect for me. I had my first MBA in 2013 with 4GB of RAM and it was fine machine for the time. I imagine M1 is a step further.