Seems like a waste to be fair, could have used a $500 refurbished ThinkPad for that.
I’d suggest that there’s lots of little things you miss on a refurbished Lenovo vs an Apple Silicon mac.
Eg better battery management, better screen handling, better Bluetooth handling.
None of them was a massive problem for me hut it’s that kind of fit and finish to the OS I missed. For now anyway I’d rather pay extra for a Mac.
I used to love my Thinkpad x260, now I can't stand it.
Lovely screen, lovely battery life.
It is a work laptop. My own are Thinkpads. I prefer the Thinkpads for most things.
Cons of the MacBook:
Terrible selection of ports, terrible trackpad (no middle click as standard, right click is unreliable and needs a clumsy gesture which fails more often than it works), AWFUL keyboard, zero repairability or upgradability.
I would not wish to spend my own money on one of these things.
I am not saying you are wrong. I am merely saying what you value is not universal.
For my current work project, I use a Mac Mini mostly to ssh into various boxes running Linux, both x86 and arm. The docs and comms are on the Mac though.
Funny enough, the mini stays at 10 W (it's a M2) while the x86 box under my desk idles at 20 W with no monitor connected...