I saw that the M2 MacBook Air has the same “feature” the new M2 MacBook Pro does, the 256 GB drive is a single chip instead of two 128 GB chips in a RAID 0 stripe set, so drive speeds are slower than the 512 GB and larger versions. So the $1200 M2 MacBook Air becomes a $1400 entry point for the non-hobbled storage performance version.
The 14” M1 MacBook Pro might be the current sweet spot in the M1 lineup. But it’s not as light as the Air, of course, but has the M1 Pro and fans so it can crunch without thermal throttling.
I‘m holding on to my 2016 13” MacBook Pro for a little while longer…