Yeah, the absence of a fan is the only thing that might keep me from getting an Air. I don't do a lot of heavy lifting, but when I do - Affinity Designer and Sketchup - it might be for a good chunk of the day. I wouldn't want to cook anything, but I also don't know how much cooler/efficient the M1 works vs. the Intel stuff, so maybe those activities aren't as taxing/demanding as 3D or video work.
Those other three things wouldn't cross my mind. Two hours of battery isn't going to make or break anything...it's not like I'm going to be up for 20 hours straight, working unplugged. The TouchBar and brightness, I couldn't care less.
Just for the sake of $$$ and all, I sometimes do think about the Air, knowing it'll be miles above what I'm on now (13" Retina MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM). My gut tells me that I'd be just fine with one. I do like its design/shape (that slim taper, etc) over the MacBook Pro, for sure. But, in all reality, it would spend 95% of its life on this desk, just like this current MacBook Pro is doing. I could have a 3" thick laptop and it probably wouldn't really matter.
