I tried going from a 2018 MBP to M1 MBA in 2021 and had too many issues to make it my primary machine. Docker and Android development were particularly brutal to get going reliably IIRC. The M1 performed well for the things it could do, but I still needed the MBP (which constantly reached 100% CPU) for other stuff, so I ended up doing a horrible multi-machine setup with Synergy. That was a dark time in my life ;)

Then tried again early this year with a M1Max MBP, and it has been the biggest step change productivity boost of my life. Definitely still some pain points, but the way this thing handles anything I throw at it is incredible.

I'm mostly doing front-end dev (react native). Have a minimum of 2 IDEs, 1 iOS simulator, 1 Android simulator, Windows (ARM) Virtualbox, 2 browsers open at all times. And then add a mix of Docker, XCode, Android Studio, Zoom, Sketch, Affinity apps, Slack, Zoom, etc. I haven't ever heard the fan spin up. I was carefully managing what I had open on the 2018 MBP, and now I don't even think about it.

The only thing I'm still running in Rosetta is Apple software: XCode and the iOS simulator, but they run smooth, so I don't even think about it.

The MBA setup I was just flailing my way through. For the M1Max setup, I found this guide very helpful in my initial setup (mostly focused on a RN Dev): https://amanhimself.dev/blog/setup-macbook-m1/