I don't consider a front USB C port mandatory, on a case. It's actually one of the features I'd rank near the bottom of my list. Of course, most of my type-C cables are A-to-C, so I'm not generally inconvenienced by the lack of one.
Something I'd much rather have is dust filters on the intake vents.
In fact, I'm about to buy just such a case!
I am with you on the location of USB-C on cases. I am all about airflow (2x 140mm minimum) while still having some 5.25" front bays to use. I still run an old HD-DVD Blu-ray combo drive for backing up all my old media as needed, my water pumps/res combos which are a two bay in serial setup. I also have a bay in use giving me more 2 more USB 3.2 ports with... one USB-C 5g, one 10g and an SD card reader. Seeing front bays disappear is a far larger concern to me compared USB-C placement on a case. You want one or more up front...having a 5.25 inch bay is a great way to add them.
If I'm giving a tech gift to someone who knows enough to have opinions about what they want, then I'll give them $ and let them decide. Better yet, just steer clear and give them a non-tech gift. For my sister, I split the cost of a laptop with my brother in law, but we let her decide which model & features she wanted - that way, she can't blame us if she's unhappy with it!
In general, I'd rather not give gifts that are something different than they would've bought for themselves. However, I do like when I can give someone something nicer than they'd have bought for themselves.
This OR make wish lists with very specific parts to choose from like my family does. I got a great 2TB NVMe drive and a great keyboard last Christmas this way. But I had given my family a large list to choose from, with websites, where to find the best deals and the understanding to not deviate from the list if they were going with a tech gift. But this doesn't work for everyone and I get that. This is why gift receipts are essiential.
Even more...
If you are not a techie, don't buy anyone tech gifts.
My ex was bad about that.
The grandkids needed a new PC.
I said "hang on, I'll build you one.
To get there ahead of me, she bought one.
'Dear, that is the absolute crappiest thing that was on the shelf at BestBuy. Don't do that again'.
Unless you are the techie, just don't,
I absolutely agree minus the wish list method I mentioned above which I do find feasible more times than not. Unless you know what your doing or following someones very specific wish list, buying tech gifts is generally a very bad idea...
Until a year ago, I had a work laptop that was a Kaby Lake with 2C/4T and 8 GB of RAM, running Win 10. Using it was a rather terrible experience.
My employer put so much bloatware on it that the RAM was continually almost maxed out, even with me just running the apps you listed (except for classroom presentation). It took forever to boot & login, was very sluggish, and tabs were continually unloading. Although it had a NVMe drive, it felt performed almost like it had a mechanical hard drive.
A personal machine that I use for mostly web browsing was also noticeably improved by upgrading to 16 GB, about 4 years ago, although it was never as bad as that work laptop. Other than McAfee Antivirus, it has a pretty lightweight install.
I had to help my mom get a new laptop for her new job recently which was on their dime. As her last few work machines were nighmarishly slow due to lack of ram/ssd and or weak cpus, even by 'work' standards, she convinced them to get her a decent setup. Seriously she had a single core at one point in the last six years for a work laptop and I mailed her out a 'cheap' refurb I had done which would have gone for 200-300 hundred on newegg at the time, that destoryed the machine she had.
Anyways as I am a tech she asked them to allow me to choose the model and spec out the machine which they surprisingly agreed to not long after her hire. She told me what she wanted, what she needed and what she didn't from the machine So I made her a large list of lappies with varing budgets that would fit her needs. My mom is a HUGE ram hog for example as am I. Considering as a child she taught me how to use (not build or spec out) computers this isn't a big surprise. So 64GB was an absolute given for her, for example a decent size/speed NVMe drive a minimum of four cores though I beleive she ended up with 8 or 12 (I forget atm) but she had zero need for anything other than an iGPU.
But yeah on some of her old machines one of us would buy her more ram or an ssd to 'speed' things up for her. I'd help walk her through the install to make sure everything was working properly (work techs would her too of course). She always(?) got permission mind you but rarely to never any compensation. They all seemed happy to let increase her workflow output by increasing her computers speed but never actually wanted to 'pay' for the reasonably spec'd machines to do so. It has been an issue with most of her previous employers as well, save a few. I am sure many in this thread had similar experiences at work. I get it though, most companies need to keep costs down and skimping on work machines is a good way to keep their tech budget in check. Cost vs work flow capability can be a tricky thing to balence.
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