@Danacscott I own a Dell laptop that I bought when Windows XP was the current OS (so I’ve had it for a LONG time), and it still works fine.
Here’s a Lenovo (used to be IBM). I don’t see free returns mentioned on this one.
$299.89 Lenovo ThinkPad T450 14in Laptop, Core i5-5300U 2.3GHz, 8GB Ram, 250GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, Webcam (Renewed)
https://smile.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T450-Certified-Refurbished
Not quite right, Lenovo did not used to be IBM, they acquired IBM. It is and has always been a Chinese company and when it comes to communication hardware I would personally stay away from those given an option.
Sorry, I did not mean the company used to be IBM, I meant the brand used to be IBM.
I checked at my church. We have a yearly yard sale at the church and people are always bringing stuff in. Nothing. Sorry. Because of this stupid chip shortage, the prices are climbing. Even used cars are going up if they have a computer in them.
Sorry. Here it is. The price fluctuates slightly each day, and refurbs can also go out of stock.
$304.99 Lenovo ThinkPad T450 14in Laptop, Core i5-5300U 2.3GHz, 8GB Ram, 250GB SSD, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, Webcam (Renewed)
@markwr Thank ye. I’ll link to my Texas buddum. She might be willing to finally toss her suffering tablet for a small comp.
Will it out meself as well.
@Danacscott FYI, here is a NEW laptop sale, direct from Lenovo.
NOTE: $239 new, but less RAM and way smaller Hard Drive.
Lenovo 14w (14" Windows laptop)
$239.00 after Savings of $100.00 (29%)
Use eCoupon: BTSTHINKDEALS
AMD A6-9220C APU
Windows 10 Pro 64
10-hr battery and narrow bezel FHD display
14.0" FHD (1920 x 1080) anti-glare, 220 nits
Memory 4 GB DDR4 1666MHz (Soldered)
Hard Drive 64 GB eMMC
Integrated AMD Radeon™ R5 Graphics
Bluetooth® 4.2
Camera 720p HD
Warranty 1 Year Depot or Carry-in
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/student-laptops/Lenovo-14w/p/81MQ000JUS
Seeing sales on other places too. Thanks @markwr. Still trying to decide what to do. Tablet still blanking at random.
Ouch.
This is a glorified Chromebook.
…and so what is wrong with that.
No wonder your mind is going blank. 
Yeah, if I was looking at that one, I’d first research what internal storage upgrade spot there may be, or at least keep a usb drive/thumb-drive inserted as an extra disk. 
Chromebooks get away with low specs because they’re designed to have most of their work done in the cloud. They only need to be powerful enough to run a web browser.
If you want to be able to do work locally and not using cloud services with web-based interfaces, you might want to look into something that has enough storage to store files locally and has enough memory and power to run software other than a web browser. From the OP, it sounded like you were hoping to play some games too, and even for 2D indie games, you’ll probably want a little more power.
Ah thanks, @markwr and @eishiya, now I see the limitations of the build. And yuck, I’m not a fan of relying on the Cloud too heavily.
I agree. For what you want and need, the Chromebook is NOT what you want to get.
Keep in mind, nothing I’ve mentioned is a Chromebook. Everything I’ve linked to is a Windows O/S machine, not a Chrome or Android O/S machine. Now, because Windows is (usually) not cloud based, you’ll want more disk space than a Chromebook needs, so you should always pay attention to amount of disk space included, and if you’d want more - to consider ways to increase it (insert SD-card or USB/thumb-drive storage, or look at internal slots to fill), and if the final solution is still too small, look for another machine.
I have 1TB (~1,000GB) on my laptop. I’ve got a “fairly” robust amount of programs and games installed and I’ve used up about 50% of it.
EDIT:
You could buy and leave any of these plugged in for extra disk space:
$57.99 Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive Portable HDD – USB 3.0
$59.99 WD 2TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive HDD, USB 3.0
$44.99 Seagate Portable 1TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0
$106.99 Seagate Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/pc/595048
If you don’t want to leave the external drive plugged in, I believe Steam has a way to install some or all of your games on a removable drive, which then I assume it would ask you to connect before running a game.
Actually, I almost always had my drive plugged in for Steam games. Had meant to buy a 2tb one but ended up a 1TB. That mostly had backed up data for other har drives crashes.
External storage is something to keep in mind.
Thanks for the info @markwr. I’m back to organisation. Trying to keep busy. Have too many options is always rough on my brain.
Think we pretty all agree laptop > tablet and possibly > Deck. That is something. Heh.
They wouldn’t him crack it open, but they let Linus do some hands on. ^^