Recommendations for laptop PC under $600

[not-so-newguy]

As others have pointed out, the disk space on this machine is a little small but manageable. It will be fine for schoolwork, but that 126GB will go faster than you expect: Windows specs a minimum of 16GB, but is closer to 32GB in practice. You want to keep at least 16GB unused for optimal system performance. Civ 6 takes 12GB of space, minimum. That's almost half of the space allocated before you've done anything else. Take a look at the amount of storage used for photos, movies, and apps on your tablet/phone and see if you think you can get by. A portable hard drive is highly recommended.

This is good to keep in mind. Thanks!
Edit: Civ 6 would probably be the most difficult game I would want to play. The advantage of being away from these games for over a decade is that it's all new to me (again)

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I would warn against an Acer laptop. They are cheaper, but that applies to more than just the price, unfortunately.

Now I'm looking at Acer Aspire 5.

 

[not-so-newguy]

I would warn against an Acer laptop. They are cheaper, but that applies to more than just the price, unfortunately.

I was wondering about the Acer. It looks like the best selling cheap gaming laptop for Amazon. The few YouTube reviews that I watched stated that the best aspect about it is that it's upgradeable.

The price on the one I was looking at yesterday has jumped passed my $600 threshold. Here's
Here's the current Acer Aspire that's under $600 (currently $549 on Amaozon):

2020 Newest Acer Aspire 5
15.6" FHD 1080P Laptop Computer| AMD Ryzen 3 3200U up to 3.5 GHz(Beat i5-7200u)| 8GB RAM| 128GB SSD+500GB HDD| Backlit KB| WiFi| Bluetooth| HDMI| Windows 10| Laser USB Cable

Screen Size 15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution 1920x1080 Pixels
Memory Speed 3.5 GHz
Graphics Coprocessor AMD Radeon Vega 3
Wireless Type Bluetooth
Average Battery Life (in hours) 6 Hours
Other Technical Details
Brand Name Acer
Series ACER
Item model number Aspire
Hardware Platform PC
Operating System Windows 10
Item Weight 3.97 pounds
Product Dimensions 14.31 x 9.74 x 0.89 inches
Item Dimensions L x W x H 14.31 x 9.74 x 0.89 inches
Color Silver
Processor Brand AMD
Processor Count 2
Computer Memory Type DDR4 SDRAM
Flash Memory Size 128 GB
Hard Drive Interface Solid State
Power Source Battery Powered

 

[Deset Gled]

2020 Newest Acer Aspire 5
15.6" FHD 1080P Laptop Computer| AMD Ryzen 3 3200U up to 3.5 GHz(Beat i5-7200u)| 8GB RAM| 128GB SSD+500GB HDD| Backlit KB| WiFi| Bluetooth| HDMI| Windows 10| Laser USB Cable

Screen Size 15.6 Inches
Max Screen Resolution 1920x1080 Pixels
Memory Speed 3.5 GHz
Graphics Coprocessor AMD Radeon Vega 3
Wireless Type Bluetooth
Average Battery Life (in hours) 6 Hours
...
Processor Count 2

The processor and graphics of the Acer are a little behind the Lenovo you linked to yesterday.

UserBenchmark: AMD Ryzen 3 3200U vs Intel Core i5-8265U

cpu.userbenchmark.com

UserBenchmark: AMD RX Vega 3 (Ryzen iGPU) vs Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Mobile Kaby Lake R)

gpu.userbenchmark.com

The one spec implies that there might be two of the Ryzen chips in the laptop, which would put the CPUs on much more even ground.

The Acer has a higher res screen. The second HDD is also a big step up for the Acer. The Lenovo/Intel will probably get better battery life, if that matters.

IMNSHO, Lenovo is a better brand than Acer, but Acer is still on my "acceptable" list.

Both would be reasonable options.

 

[not-so-newguy]

So I just bought the 2019 Lonovo. Should be here in about two weeks. Thanks for the feedback!