Laptop time?

[sedrosken]

Consumer notebooks are hard. My Ideapad 1s came from visiting a Walmart and a Best Buy to see what's acceptable at less than $350, because so very often, that's as much as people are willing to spend. I have a prejudice against 17" models and their breaky, breaky screens, and the moment I bring up anything more than $600, I know I'm probably talking to a wall unless the customer wants a gaming notebook... which are also terrible.

I usually steer people toward Asus Vivobooks as a mainstream option. I don't trust Asus service at all ever, but I've never seen a BAD Asus notebook, either. They all have good screens and good input and solid construction. At around $600, it's possible to buy something with a Strix Point APU and 16GB RAM and that's a very good place to be if it's at all within your budget.

I'm not buying her anything consumer-ish, to be honest. I want it to last her and she's not terribly good about babying electronics, so I'm very sure if I get her another consumer grade laptop it'll be broken in a year or two.

I'm okay with it being a bit slower than strictly optimal (trying to swing a 7840U, but I'll settle for a 7540U if I have to) if it means I won't be right back in this spot Christmas 2027.