tldr; I got a Macbook Pro M1 for $975 in mint-condition at a Best Buy and already put the return label on it.
While Geekbench showed great results, actual usage of the machine and headaches ensued were contrasting.
To put it bluntly - M1 machines are currently unstable. There are numerous Bluetooth issues [1], formatting issues [2], Wifi 6 issues [3], VPN issues [4], firewall issues [5], and shocking security issues in general with Big Sur and Apple's silicon [6].
I'm a power user and this is way too experimental for actual use. At the least get the 16 GB variant if you want to get anything done and not experience freeze/lockup (but for that much money you're better off with Librem 14" or System76 w/AMD Threadripper).