Having a smaller volume and more power consuming chip than M1[0], I wonder if it will match M1 air performance and battery life on heavy tasks. The media engine will definitely provide smoother experience when working with sound and videos but I kind of suspect that on other tasks it will be about the same as M1, thus prolonging the Apple's software support for the original one.
Sure but the thinner design might have reduced the thermal envelope, thus increasing the possibility of throttling earlier than the M1 version. For context, my M1 throttles down about %15 at room temperature after about 10 minutes on very heavy load.
I'm curious about the benchmarks and stress tests. Would be very cool if it is actually significantly better than the M1 on everything.
[0] Early reviews of M2 Macbook Pro indicate that the M2 chip heats up more than the M1 and consumes a more power. An example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVIknUcCjiQ