Looking for laptop for school

[Ender15m]

I need a new laptop for school. My old one's keyboard broke and it's more than $100 to repair, and at this point it's so old (and an HP) I'd rather just get a new one. My budget is around $700-$600. I need it to be able to run some coding programs, word writing, and maybe something like Minecraft to pass the time. The most important things would be something light and a small frame so I can fit it in my backpack with my tons of other books. Just want it to be easily portable but still sturdy. I don't really prefer tablets. Looking for an SSD, doesn't have to have too many GBs on it. I also want a 1080p screen resolution to watch movies on. Don't need a DVD drive but would like plenty of USB ports and an HDMI port. Long battery life would be preferred.
I hope that's enough information. Let me know if you need anymore.
I appreciate any help trying to find this laptop for me.
Thank you so much.

 

[geofelt]

Look for a lenovo X1 carbon.
They are very light with an excellent keyboard.
Your budget can probably not afford a new one, but look for a refurb like this:
https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-x1-carbon/p/N82E16834850854
I think you can add 8gb to the unit if you want.

Look for reviews of whatever gen you can find.

 

[Ender15m]

Look for a lenovo X1 carbon.
They are very light with an excellent keyboard.
Your budget can probably not afford a new one, but look for a refurb like this:
https://www.newegg.com/lenovo-x1-carbon/p/N82E16834850854
I think you can add 8gb to the unit if you want.

Look for reviews of whatever gen you can find.

Looks really nice. Never trusted refurbished stuff before though. Is it worth it/trustworthy?

 

[geofelt]

Refurb usually means a cleanup, wipe of the drive and a clean os install.

Units are graded ABC
with A being pristine.
B will have some cosmetic issues, perhaps some worn keys.
C can be quite rough; I would avoid those.
Internally I would expect no problems.
Units like the thinkpad x1 are likely to be corporate issued units coming off lease.
I have bought a few refurbs, and have not been disappointed.
You do get a 30 day option for refund from newegg which is a reliable outfit.

 

[Seaweed Monster]

Thinkpads are good but this is outdated, 4th generation Intel processor. Intel's 10th generation (something like the i5-1035G1) and Ryzen 4000 series swamp the dual-core i7-4600U. I do not think it's worth it given OP's price range is reasonable to get something new and way better.

I'd recommend taking a look at something like this:

Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R9Y (LINK) $679
Specs:

• Ryzen 7 4700U with RX Vega 7 graphics (Eight-core, 2.0 - 4.1Ghz)
• 8GB DDR4 RAM
• 512GB SSD (Nvme)
• 14inch 1080p IPS display
• Battery life - around 7 - 8 hours according to reviews

Really neat little laptop, the eight-core Ryzen 7 4700u will handle multitasking and coding no problem with the 512GB storage being quite generous (can be upgraded if needed). The RX Vega 7 graphics can handle gaming at a mixture of medium and low settings in most titles and is quite an impressive integrated graphics chip, so Minecraft will run nicely at around medium to high settings.

Some reviews have said the display in the Acer isn't too bright (around 250nits) or colour accurate, quite normal at this price point, but something to keep in mind maybe?

There are quite a few videos on youtube that review this laptop if you want to check it out:

• Laptop review -
  • View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHsxYOwLrSU
  • View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDmRpcQQPUo
    
• Ryzen 7 4700U with RX Vega 7 gaming -
  • View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAdD5UBE-os