Before macOS 26 I would have agreed with you. But after Tahoe my M1 MacBook Pro feels a lot slower.

Funny, there's even some regression in layer backed NSView rendering where the app I'm working on is faster (in some aspects) in a macOS 15 VM than on bare metal under macOS 26.

Are you running any electron apps that have not yet been updated to use the most recent upstream electron?

https://furbo.org/2025/10/06/tahoe-electron-detector/

I've got a couple things that I use which aren't yet up-to-date, and are blocking my upgrade.

Probably not if you bought the 8GB version :D

My 8GB M1 Air is still running as well today as the day I bought it.

And it will run at the same speed. But I would guess a lot of apps will requier more ram at some point.

OP said it should last for " at least 5 years from now, if not more." which I doubt. Maybe for light webbrowsing.

Finger crossed for mine as well!