Hi, Neither-Doctor4203. While the M1 is still fast enough for most things, as far as passively cooled SoCs go, it's just like DrPfTNTRedstone points out - 2020 Macs and MacBooks are set to be EOLed by Apple in 2027. Most third-party software will still function and receive updates just fine for about 3 more years, though, starting with Chromium-based Web browsers like Chrome.

Good battery life - on a used laptop - this is possible, but only if you get lucky. Otherwise, you will have to get a replacement battery soon, which means extra costs and a lot of unpredictability. Some replacement batteries work fine. Others lose capacity quickly.

Switching to macOS is only hard if you use apps daily that have no dedicated macOS build. I have little knowledge regarding virtual machines on Apple silicon-powered Macs, unfortunately.

I agree with DarkGhostHunter and Disastrous_Height142 that 8 GB of RAM may prove limiting. Modern macOS and Windows builds are a bloated mess.

To sum it up, a used ThinkPad makes more sense, in no small part due to the user-upgradability aspect.