Try the non-touchbar. Much lower power parts (CPU takes half as much), no touchbar of course, a real ESC key, and a larger battery.
Battery life is good, and 16GB is a big step up from the 8GB I had on the MBA. I've been running a decent-sized system in minikube with no problems.
The only issue I still seem to have is that Hangouts absolutely obliterates the battery. A one-hour call took battery life from 9:45 to 1:15!