Which laptop to choose

Welcome!

I am an architect and never had a Macbook to work on. I mainly use Autocad, Sketchup and Photoshop.

Storage is an important factor in those apps as files can get huge. I suspect you will find 512GB insufficient within a year.

Apple no longer makes it possible to increase storage after the device goes on the assembly line. Same with RAM. You must buy up front what you may need in three years.

Frankly, were I in your shoes, I would be asking my architect friends about their experiences and recommendations regarding Apple notebooks specifically in architecture. You are running some pro apps that will not have as many users in these forums where most people are using the more mundane apps.

Is a portable computer a necessity? A potent desktop computer like a Mac Studio may be more appropriate for in-office work.

In that case get as much storage as Budget permits. Otherwise, you'll find you'll have to be carrying an external drive to store files and documents that may no longer fit in the internal storage.