Macbook pro vs. Macbook air

[usonian]

10. Air should be fine.

Short story for me is that for your "joe computer user" tasks, the Air is fine.
MBP is for people doing video editing, developing software.

Now and then, I back up each computer in total with SuperDuper. So, no matter what, I can copy files over to another computer.

The MBA will still be fine at basic stuff with a new battery. Mine is some 12 years old, but I use it very little any more, and the battery seems fine. TBH, I use an iPad Pro with keyboard case, and it's basically a laptop (you might check it out?). If you need "touch", then no contest.

My two main interests other than DU and other web surfing are photo-editing (so I go for a 27 inch display) and reading music scores, so I use an iPad pro for that. Note: screen size and resolution are my main drivers.

Your usage is simpler and that's exactly what the MBA was made for.