Yeah numbers wise it always makes for pretty depressing reading. But my experience with a Macbook Pro (M1 Pro, 16GB RAM) has been pretty incredible. It never stutters, handles Photoshop/Illustrator and basically anything I throw at it with ease and it's silent. Had it for 2 years and it's not...
Macbook pro is an extra 200 quid, but that's basically what it was build to do. My first one lasted me 10 years. The new apple silicon is insane. Fans almost never spin up, battery life is great and these things can really take a beating...