Use your mac as much as possible plugged with the app Aldente and make sure that the battery isn’t charging

Yes, I had an M1 air 8gb and didn’t have a single issue editing in 4k (fuji xt4 and iphone files). But for that price you might as well consider the 14" M1 Pro (better screen, more powerful, more storage/ram, more ports, better speakers and more external screens supported).

Aldente, it will save your battery health

Yes

Yes, it will be significantly better (even the 8gb is still really good). For the built quality/rigidity apple stays the best. The battery life is impressive, the screen is amazing, the trackpad is so much more comfortable to use compared to windows laptops. Overall everything’s better, just use it as much as possible plugged in with the app Aldente (and make sure that the battery is not charging) to preserve the battery life.

The built-in screen recorder is pretty good (if you want to record the internal sound you can download the app blackhole by existential audio there are vids on ytb), or a simpler and reliable other way : obs studio which is free

Y E S !!!

If you have the money, I’d recommend by far the 14" M1 Pro, the screen is so much better than air’s one and the 15" won’t feel that much bigger. The ssd is faster and more reliable as there are two instead of one for the air (so it would last longer). The performance is also better, you have more ports (which I can’t live without now), the speakers are better, the battery is pretty good. You can even find it cheaper on eBay/Craigslist etc… (and maybe a 1tb version for ~$1400-1500? Just go for the 14 one, you won’t regret it