I think you'll be more than happy with the 14" based on what you've described. Here's my use case/considerations and I'm still deciding between the two.
For years I'd used the 15" sizes (my last one was the 2019 15" i9) and it was such the sweet spot as far as size. Not too heavy to carry if I needed to; big enough screen for my aging eyes, and gave me enough screen real estate when I'm coding in XCode and need to work on a storyboard with a code window open for dragging to tie variables to visual elements, etc. Seeing a document next to the simulator as I'm writing documentations. My use case is 98% couch as this is my personal laptop. I have a large 34" wide monitor at home but that's my WFH desk and after a long day at work on it, I have no desire to sit there longer.
For the past year I've been using the 13" M1 MBP as the i9 15" was so hot & noisy I wanted to put it in the bin. To help me decide I bought both the 14" and a 16" base (fully specc'd 16" isn't coming til Jan) and am trying them both to see which one works better. Note that battery size isn't an issue for me because they both have way more than enough battery available for me. Thermals aren't a factor as the 14" is a M1 Pro. Travel likely not a factor, as I don't travel more than a few times a year in normal times and I'll either leave my personal laptop at home if it's a work trip (take the ipad instead) or I can take my 13" MBP if needed. If I'm traveling for personal reasons only - I would only need one laptop and could take either 13" or the other one depending on the type of travel.
Here are my personal pros/cons:
16" Pros
- Love the screen! Can fit everything I need on it, can increase the size of fonts large enough to compensate for my crappy vision and still not feel crowded. (13" definitely felt a bit crowded/small).
- The monitor part is 'taller' so I don't have to bend over quite as much to see it (this is really minor though)
16" Cons
- Weight & balance. If I sit with my feet up on the coffee table and the laptop on my thighs - I can feel the weight more than with the 14". If I sit cross legged on the couch it fits well that way, but it feels like it's going to tilt away from me onto the floor way more than the 14" does.
- Weight & balance #2: It's a bit more effort to pick up/put down with one hand from the side table or coffee table where I store it when I'm off doing other things. I'm always forever getting up/down so this seems to happen frequently!
- Height - in some positions the laptop blocks my view of the bottom edge of the TV
14" Pros
- Still really light weight - feels balanced in all couch sitting positions.
- Screen larger than the 13" (13.3 vs 14.2") and brighter.
- Physical form factor is just barely larger than the 13" MBP but you gain so much more in screen, processing power, ports, etc.
14" Cons
- Side by side windows aren't really doable for me so I can only have one main window up at a time unless it's something really simple like a Terminal next to a Browser. I can't use it in the "more space" resolution as that makes things too small for me to comfortably read with my vision.
- Some sites/apps feel a little cramped when I up the font size to something that's really comfortable for my eyes to read.
- FOMO on the 16"
I think if I get the 16" I'll get used to the weight and balance of it. If I get the 14" I'll adjust to the size since it's larger than the 13", but probably silently curse a bit when I'm doing something that the extra 2" of screen would have been really beneficial for.
