My current situation: I work remotely and will be doing a bunch of travel (personal, not work-related). Right now, I have my work laptop and a personal desktop. I travel with my work laptop, and RDP connect to my home PC for personal use... I don't go through the work PC OS for anything personal.

I was talking to some people from work, and they do the opposite... they travel, and use their personal laptop to remote in to their work laptop, which remains safely at home, connected to their home network. That would simplify things greatly for me, as I'd be able to use a personal laptop more freely while traveling rather than having to RDP into a personal machine at home. I'd only have to RDP in to my work machine to do actual work... and this would be better for security reasons, avoiding work laptop theft while on the road.

That said... my work laptop has the horsepower I need to do the heavy lifting for my job. Compiling code, etc. I don't do anything like that on my personal devices.

I'm behind the times when it comes to computer specs. I want a MacBook that is fast enough that I don't want more, and handles basic everyday stuff. Web, streaming video, and of course remoting back to my other machines if necessary. I see MacBooks still sold with 8GB RAM, that seems a little low to me coming from the Windows OS, but I don't know. I'm also not sure if it's worth going from the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro... how much better of an experience is it to have the extra ports included in the machine, vs Thunderbolt ports? I also have a 15" external travel monitor that I take with me, it uses USB-C 3.0 or HDMI, and a Bluetooth mouse.

I'm not convinced that I need to get a NIB MacBook for what I am going to do. I see them for sale only a couple years old for significantly less, and the consensus is that they just work, and keep on working, pretty much indefinitely.

Thoughts?

In for answers, for I am I a very similar situation.

The MacBooks with only 8GB RAM are probably using Apple’s own silicon, either the M1 or M2. It’s a unified memory architecture so in theory it should be more efficient.

I’ve enjoyed my MacBooks. Just wish I had the bigger 16” mode vs the 13” model I currently have.

To answer your question about ports, I find more ports on the Pro more convenient than the two the Air comes with.

I would definitely start at the midtier option then add specs from there. That comes with 16GB/1TB/processor bump. Don't buy the entry level models and don't buy the 13" MBP. Either the M2 Air or M1/2 MBP.

The midtier MBP M2 at Costco is $2249 which also includes a 2nd year warranty. Thats actually the best 'value' Mac laptop IMO. By the time you bump an Air up to 16GB/1TB its not that much of a difference in price to the 14" MBP which has much better processors, ports, and the screen is noticeably better on the MBP.

I'm debating between the 14" and 16". I need to measure my current laptop backpack, so I can see if the 16" will fit and work as a personal item.

I forgot as well that I have the Apple credit card, I can do 24 months 0% interest, so that makes it hurt a bit less to get a better machine.

The Pro has an SD slot, right? So I could just get the 512MB and add a 1TB SD card for any photos, videos, etc... ?

Yes it has an SD card slot. I would not trust SD cards to store data long term. You would be better off just getting the storage you want when you buy it or a rugged external SSD like this https://www.westerndigital.com/products/portable-drives/sandisk-extreme-usb-3-2-ssd#SDSSDE61-1T00-G25

My MBP is a 2015 model, still works perfectly. It only has 16 GB of RAM with an Intel i7 processor. The desktop I'm typing this on is a 2014 iMac, and was a refurb at that, so yes, Apple products last a long time. I used to travel a LOT, like 6 of every 8 weeks on a plane. Killed a couple of higher end Wintel machines along the way, but the Macs have been bulletproof.

WRT to RAM, in general, Macs have always used/needed less than an equivalent Wintel machine. The OS just does a better job of using it, and as noted above, the new Apple silicon magnifies that advantage. I'd go for the 16" MBP and stop carrying your extra screen on trips.

As an added bonus, the Apple OS is vastly more secure vs viruses & hackers. An old friend who is a globally recognized IT security guy (2-3 books published, pops up on CNN/FOX etc every time there's a major breach, etc) told me years ago "V, between your corporate access levels and personal finance, you're a hacker's dream target, you need to get off Wintel and on iOS for all of your personal stuff." I'm no longer the dream target I once was, but Macs have been good machines for me.

When I left one of my corporate jobs rather abruptly - massive cost cuts at the company, with no warning - I had to hand in my corp laptop without time to clear the browser cache of all of my travel affinity passwords - frequent flyer, etc. I had to hop the next plane home and spend several hours changing PWs. Had I been using a personal laptop, I could have just given them the finger on the way out. Do you really trust the pony tailed stoner in IT with your banking info? I didn't. We had been directly encouraged by that company not to worry about having to do personal stuff on the company laptops because we travelled so much. Lesson learned.

I've always bought refurb Macs. I've strayed a few times to the 3rd party refurbishers like macofalltrades and backmarket with all of it's constituent shops. I've never been happy with the computers I've gotten from them. Just went through this for a MBA for my wife. Went through 3 computers (2 were the wrong specs, 1 still had the location on and the prior user remote locked it) before finally going back to the apple/refurb store and getting one there. Nice to have an actual Apple warranty for a bit.

As I finish my morning coffee I post to you now from my couch on a 8GB Macbook air M1, 2020 model.  I have never felt like I was limited by the 8GB memory.

At work it come out of my bag and plugs via the Thunderbolt cable into a CalDigit docking station which provides power, access to my full size Das Keyboard, printer, scanner, external HD and a 49" ultrawidescreen LG monitor.  

I have absolutely no complaints and don't intend on upgrading anytime soon.

That being said, it is useless for gaming.  For that I have a PC I built just for that purpose.

I agree with all of this. Just two additional comments.

Get as much memory as you can afford. 16GB absolute minimum. MacOS uses memory much better than windows but if you do any video editing or programming you can’t have too much memory. 32GB would be much better if you can swing it.

If you get an older model make sure it is still new enough to have the Thunderbolt4 ports (USB-C).

The 14” is going to be significantly lighter and handier if you travel frequently. The 16” will be much better for multiple windows and watching videos. I would lean to the 16” unless it is just too big for your backpack/satchel bag for travel.

The difference between the air and the pro is mainly sustained performance.
the MacBook Air relies on passive cooling (it has no fan) and thus will throttle sooner then a 14" that has a fan.

personally, I have a 14" Max. Maxed out.
may wife has a Air with 8gb of ram and the 7core GPU. On average, my pro is 2x to 3x faster on the stuff I do for work but normal use there is little practical difference.

when it comes to ram, always get as much as you can. I have 64GB and even under my heaviest load don't come near using it all.
IF all you get is the 8GB you won't be handicapped much.
MacOS is designed to take every bit of installed ram and make use of it, compressing the contents, offloading to the SSD and defragmenting.  

If you want the latest version of OSX (Ventura), make sure you don't go too old if you choose the refurb route.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264