It is not a fair comparison since 4900HS is a 35w chip. A fair comparison would be 4750U, 15w chip with score of 1184/8008

I'm not comparing on the basis of TDP. I'm comparing performance/dollar.

I fully expect Apple's higher end, higher TDP chips to achieve better performance. But they will cost more money.

Like it or not the M1 is competing in a price bracket with the 4900HS.

but you will agree that - for a mobile cpu - power consumption and therefore battery life is an important aspect of the equation?

Is it though? A "Pro" laptop has, by the very name, an implication of performance.

I don't know many professionals in any industry that are constrained so heavily by power - generally when you're doing professional work, you're not far from an outlet, save some rare use cases like on-location shoots for film and television.

Absolutely, that's one of the reasons I may buy a first generation Apple product.

I too had hoped that Apple might reduce the price of the new AS lineup to promote adoption by consumers, but it doesn't seem to be going that way. Depending on how these initial models sell (well I think), we may or may not see any improvement in the price/performance ratio.

Probably doesn't make sense (yet) with chip supply constrained for a year or three.