> Before M1 we used to have laptops that had 16GB RAM as a base. With M1 the made base back to 8GB.
You're getting product segments mixed up. From what I can tell, the 13" MacBook Pro in the Intel era never started at 16GB; the last model still started at 8GB. That's what was replaced by the M1. The 15/16" Intel-based MacBook Pro models didn't get a proper replacement until the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which started at 16GB and 32GB respectively. The only regression I can find there is that the last 13" Intel MacBook Pro could be configured with up to 32GB, which wasn't available from the base M series chips until the M4 last year.
You're getting product segments mixed up. From what I can tell, the 13" MacBook Pro in the Intel era never started at 16GB; the last model still started at 8GB. That's what was replaced by the M1. The 15/16" Intel-based MacBook Pro models didn't get a proper replacement until the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which started at 16GB and 32GB respectively. The only regression I can find there is that the last 13" Intel MacBook Pro could be configured with up to 32GB, which wasn't available from the base M series chips until the M4 last year.