I know others have answered already, but I'll just add that depending on what you run for apps besides just a browser, I considered 12 GB of memory the minimum when buying the kids laptops for college a few years back and as others stated 16 is better. I think we ended up with both being 16 GB of RAM. A good SSD and depending on if you use cloud storage or not 256 GB is good, 512 better. I'll defer on processors to RK and WT.I have a question for the computer geeks among us. Barb and I are looking to buy a laptop to replace the old tower system. Want it to last as long as possible, be reliable and fast enough to take advantage of the fiber optic interwebz we got. What specs should we look for and what should we expect to spend for a non Apple unit? And where should we buy for best deal?
Lots of apps even browsers suck up memory these days.
Sometimes Costco has some really good machines. I bought one kids there and the other at Best Buy of all places. Did similar when my wife's business needed a couple of laptops.
All were HP because they met the specs and the price constraints at the time.
My son picked an ultra book / or what some call an executive form factor... Very light and smaller screen. Important if mobility is your thing and you'll connect to a dock for external monitors when you are camped at home base for larger work (which he does).
My daughter wanted large screen and didn't care about the extra weight as much so she got a bigger laptop but similar specs on other components as she'll take notes on OneNote on her iPad and sync it too her laptop etc when she wants super portable.
So consider the usage pattern and preferences on size of screen / weight.
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