I switched from a 16" Pro with 32GB of RAM to a 16GB M1 Air - I really didn't notice the difference, even though I frequently run some memory hogs (Electron apps, Chrome, multiple Docker containers)

and big sur and up... unfortunately the quality of the OS is not keeping up with the quality of the hw.

How so?

let's not go there :} life is too short to compile bug lists for macos.

I feel like the critical bug list being short is basically THE reason power users would go for Apple laptops.

The best OS of existing.

Surely you're joking here.

No.

I haven't found that to be a catch actually.

I went from a mid-2015 15" MBP to 13" M1 with 8GB. I made the impulsive purchase to get 8GB ASAP rather than wait for 16GB (which was backordered). My primary apps are DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom and Photoshop. On the 15", the fans would run on full constantly. I would have to create proxy video files to work with.

On the M1, I don't create any proxies at all and the video files I work with just play in real-time.

Main catch for me is the two USB ports and one external screen limitation. I have a hub (card readers, USB, HDMI, etc) and a 10-port USB hub coming off that (with 7 external drives connected). As soon as there is a 15/16" available that handles two external displays, I will get that as well.

I dislike the TouchBar and the lone external display, but everything else about the M1 has been excellent for me.

I had assumed that photoshop and the like would be gpu bound, not cpu bound