[mouzogu]

In what ways (aside from battery life) is the M1 better than a comparable spec Windows Laptop?

Perhaps you're used to MacOS, but functionally, day-to-day there are not many practical differences with Windows unless there is some specific Mac only app you need.

Otherwise I would say Mac laptops are not especially good value, if you just look at the specs at face value.

I recently built a PC for ~$750 with an i7, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD and 3060 ti GPU. Something similar on Mac would cost maybe 3x more.

[vondro]

I've used Windows almost exclusively until the end of 2021, when I replaced it with Macbook Air with M1 processor, so I am very aware of Windows vs. MacOS situation. To be honest, I like windows management on Windows better than MacOS, I also like much better compatibility with e.g. legacy printers on Windows 10. Also updates are faster and with much less problems on Windows (I'd never thoght I'd write that).

The above being said, I bought the Mac it exclusively because of hardware. I am aware that you can build much better desktop PC for the money, but I need laptop for my use cases, I don't own any desktop computer and don't plan to.

Going deeper, I only paid around 960 USD for 16/512 configuration (in Europe), and for that kind of money I got great performance, great battery life, very good screen, excellent trackpad and usable keyboard. It's very thin, runs very cool and for the first time I can use laptop more like phone/tablet - only charging it when the battery gets low. Oh, and I have ZERO problems with battery drain during sleep, which on Windows is currently broken (connected standby).

What I also got is mediocre selection of ports and I am not sure how durable the machine is compared to Thinkpad, so I kinda baby it all the time.

YMMV, I personally don't care who uses what but since you asked, above are my points.