Anecdotally I recently grabbed a M1 MacBook Air and it’s an incredible machine. I prefer it over my work issued 2019 pro. It could be that the MDM software has slowed down the pro, but overall the experience with the M1 is very good.
I've been blown away at how much faster/snappier it feels in day to day use compared to my 2018 16GB MBP. With the COVID situation I'm seated at my home office 95% of time now, rather than ~35%.
One of the biggest changes has been that instead of having a jet engine level of noise next to me most of the day now, I have something that I haven't heard a noise from once in three or four days. It takes up way less desk space as well. It's much easier to tuck away somewhere than a laptop which you always have an emotional connection to needing portability with. I've had Photoshop, Illustrator, Media Encoder running encodes, After Effects, loads of web tabs open and it still feels cold to touch. More desk space, faster, less noise, less heat. It's ticked all those boxes.
I don't understand why Apple doesn't make a high-end multi port USB-C dock after all these years. Third-party quality isn't consistent.
Also, the colour profile/difference between two identical monitors, one connected on HDMI, one on USB-C was startling. No idea why... I had to spend 20 minutes with Apples advanced calibration tool get them to match up. Even selecting the same colour profiles on both monitors gave a staggering difference in colour representation which I found very odd.
What a leap.
Compare to the 2012 MBPr, a similarly innovative Apple laptop. The 2012 was $2,199 in 2012 dollars (nearly $2,500 today). This is that kind of leap, and more. $999 (sometimes $899) is a bargain.