My Daughter wants a new machine for Christmas and $500 is the target. She needs something she can learn to code on; I’m thinking:
[ul]
[li]i5 or i7[/li][li]At least 8 Gb RAM[/li][li]At least 128 Gb storage, 256 would be better[/li][li]Graphics – meh, secondary concern as long as it’s not complete crap – she really doesn’t game[/li][/ul]
I implore you, power of the Dope - please help me in my quest.
I ordered a Dell Latitude 3580 Flex 2 last week.
Intel(R) Core™ i3-6006U Processor Base, Intel(R) HD Graphics 520.
I checked the status and it’s shipping today. I ordered mine from Dell with 8GB memory and the upgraded screen, 15.6" Non-Touch FHD (1920x1080). My order total was about $750.
The base configuration is $499. You can upgrade the memory to 8GB later. That would be cheaper than getting it custom built.
This is the lowest price.
More prices here. I’ve owned several Dell Latitude laptops since 1998 and always been very pleased with their construction.
Heres the same Dell $20 cheaper with a Intel Core i3-6006U. The $499 model had a Intel Core i3-7100U. Otherwise they look the same. I’d suggest getting the newer generation processor the i3-7100U. But it probably doesn’t matter. They’ll perform the same.
I bought a 2-in-1 (detachable keyboard/tablet mode) from TigerDirect this past summer and it has been great. It was $449 for an HP Pro X2 612 G1 with 8g DDR3L ram, 256g ssd, i5 4302, 12.5" touchscreen, Win10 Pro. They are no longer available from that vendor but it shows what you should target. I really dislike large format laptops with 15 or 17"displays and this 12.5 is perfect. If I had to buy again today, I’d skip the 2-in-1 feature. I’ve literally never detached the keyboard since the first day I got the thing.
I also have a maybe 4 year old Lenovo Yoga convertible (keyboard folds back flat) which is also really nice but the new ones are a bit more than your price goal.