The baseline, preassembled model starts at $1000. Windows 10 Home, quad-core i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB storage, a nice 2256x1504 display, thin and light (1.3kg, 11.7" x 9" x 0.6"). Compare that to your other thin and light options at this pricepoint.
XPS 13, $1020
* i5
* 8 GB RAM
* 256 GB storage
* 1920 x 1200 display
* 1.2 kg, 11.6" x 7.8" x 0.6"
MacBook Pro: $1300
* M1
* 8 GB RAM
* 256 GB storage
* 2560 x 1600 display
* 1.4kg, 12" x 8.7" x 0.6"
It's almost a no-brainer, even without considering the repairability, unless you like macOS. Unfortunately, not many people see repairability as a feature yet due to the toxic status quo, but this could change. I think that after brand recognition is established, this laptop could legitimately be competitive in the laptop market, and not just appeal to hardcore techies.
The single-thread performance of the M1 doesn't get close to the competition at its power level, even a year after its release. [0] The top item in the list is the M1, a 10W CPU. The second is an Intel requiring 125W. The highest-scoring i5 also requires 125W, and is 15th in the list.
Just a reminder that the M1 MacBook Air has no fan, and is still at the top.
When choosing a laptop you of course look are more factors than just performance, but for many, that alone will be an extremely important consideration. Not to mention that - incredibly - there isn't even a conventional battery life tradeoff for that top performance. In that sense, the M1 is a no-brainer.
To me the M1 one is the differentiator not even because of its performance, but because of what it allows the laptop to be: Absolute silence with 20 hour battery life. To have it also be screamingly fast is very nice to have though.
You forget the computer is there! I have been so overwhelmingly happy with my M1 (with RAM upgrade) as a dev machine. It's THAT good. My co-workers cry when they see how fast my docker containers build.
I am used to work in Linux OS VM(Virtualbox and Vagrant in MacOS) and do most PHP/Python web development. It seems that Virtualbox won't be supported and There is only one Linux VM option available [UTM](https://github.com/utmapp/UTM)
I would hate to invest too much time for a new dev environment just for M1. How's your experience?