Why did I switch to the iPad Pro as my main computer device several years ago? Speed and battery, along with its natural portability. I was willing to accept its compromises for those reasons.
The MacBook Air is everything I love about the iPad on a true Mac. You get battery life that you forget about because it always has plenty of juice. You get instant wake and the actions are zippy. The screen is beautiful. But you also get a Mac: a file desktop, windows you can manage and work in simultaneously, the dock, and more control. I don't miss the weird compromises of iOS and iPad, such as trying to shift windows and things around, or trying to have something in SlideOver whatever.
I never really use the Apple Pencil, as cool as it is. It's really easy to pop the Pencil off the top when you carry the iPad under your arm. Because I keep my iPad docked in its Magic Keyboard case, it's not that much lighter and or smaller than the MacBook Air. The iPad is often smeared with fingerprints because it's a touchscreen.
If you love apps, or are a casual computer usual then the iPad is terrific. It's a great device for people less comfortable with computers, because iOS is so very intuitive.
So cheers to the M1 MacBook Air, which is as great today as the original MacBook Air was when it launched. It's revolutionary, and wonderful, and my iPad is now the mostly consumption device that it secretly always was.