To think I lived to see the day when you buy a macbook for value

If you were alive a decade ago, you already have. When the SSD transition started the MacBook Air was a surprisingly good value with a better quality SSD than almost any of the PC options at any price (integrated controller versus the overhead of a separate chip) and most of the sub-$1k competition had spinning metal.

Meanwhile they kept spinning metal on the iMac for a decade.

I am an anti-fanboy, not buying apple for the last 6 years, but couldn't resist its value now. Sounds like a good time. Buying M1 today is quite a good timing strategy guesstimating M2(or whatever name) with 32GB+ will come in next 2 years or so.

Wait for real world reviews, the indications here are that apple will catch up and be a good price/performance if not better but the jury is still out.