I don't think it's a useful distinction. I wouldn't describe my car as "really a vacuum cleaner", despite them both having an electric motor.

The form factor is the defining characteristic, because that informs how people use it. The CPU does not.

Really an iPad running MacOS instead of iOS, with a built-in keyboard and touchpad, without a touch screen, multiple ports.

In other words, indistinguishable from a laptop by virtually everyone. I don't even know what difference you might be referring to.

The iPad has a touchscreen, supports Apple Pencil, etc. but the observation that the iPad has been Apple's "budget" computing platform for a while is spot on. It is interesting that they have reformulated it into a Mac laptop (and also that A-series iPhone chips offer M1-class performance.)

Fortunately/unfortunately for Apple, the M1 MacBook Air from 2020 is still a great laptop.