I have an M2 Mac Studio on my desk but am missing the portable lifestyle a bit so am entertaining buying a MBA.
Here’s my deliberation- should I get the entry level 15” or add some upgrades like disk and RAM? I’m thinking that if I need to do anything with real power I can do that on my desktop. If I’m out and about I’ll be using browser and office type apps and DevonThink. I also have an external 14tb drive connected to the studio as well as 2tb of iCloud.
What are your thoughts between the base config and spending another $400 on upgrades? Thanks for helping me spend $$
The Airs been out for a while I would hold or go refurbished. Especially if 16 gigs of Ram become the standards.
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One thing to check is how much memory your commonly open DevonThink databases take up on the Studio.
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I absolutely recommend getting at least 16gb RAM. It’s almost 2025, apps and the OS are only going to get more demanding, and Apple Intelligence is on its way.
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I bought a Refurbished M3 13" MBA with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD a month ago to have an Apple Silicon Mac (my existing iMac and MacBook Pro are Intel).
From my experience, there is no reason not to buy an Apple Refurbished Mac if you can get the configuration you want. It saved me $40 over a new one at Costco.
Since the base RAM will be 16GB with all the new M4 Macs coming out probably next week (but no new MBAs), IMHO it would be wise to get 16GB on a MBA. The size of the SSD is totally personal based on your usage.
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Get. More. RAM.
Storage is cheap and easily expanded with externals.
16GB is the bare minimum you should have now, unless you’re doing light tasks like browsing and emailing. Then buy an older Intel Mac and be happy 
Thank you for all of the feedback. My original idea was to buy a “disposable” laptop that I would keep for about 3 years or so and then upgrade. I’m definitely the type who likes new and shiny.
It sends that if I want this machine to last 3 years I’d better upgrade to 16gb. Time to start haunting the refurb site- I bought most o of my Apple HW from there.
I’m sure you already know about it, but if not the alerts you can set up via Apple Refurb Tracker make the hunt a lot easier 
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If you are in the US, you can often find discounts on the 16gb/512gb M3 Air SKUs via Best Buy or Amazon. I bought a new 13in M3 Air with 16gb/512gb earlier this year for about $1300 USD which I think is what Apple Refurb prices would be at for the same machine.
Wherever you buy I highly highly highly encourage you to get the 15". (I think that’s what you were planning anyways.) I got the 15" M2 and love it … much more than the 13". That extra screen spaces makes a big difference and it’s really quite lightweight.
I got it with 16Gb … that’s still a no brainer for me. I’ve heard rumblings that due to various “efficiencies” 8 Gb is probably enough for most people. And maybe that’s true, but I’m still a 16 Gb person. The combo of 15 with 16 is fantastic.
I think they I want the 15”. I don’t live bear an Apple Store so kind of hard to check one out. I’ll get there though. Thanks for The inputs