im starting my first semester at university in about three weeks and honestly im kinda freaking out because my old laptop just died on me. i have literally zero clue about tech specs so sorry if this is a dumb question but is there anything decent i can get for under 800 bucks? i really need something reliable for writing essays and doing a ton of research online plus maybe watching netflix during downtime.

ive been looking at a few websites but i get overwhelmed by all the numbers and letters like i3 vs i5 or how much ram i actually need. i dont want to buy something that will just stop working in a year either. im based in the states and i really dont want to go over my 800 dollar budget since money is super tight right now with textbooks and all that stuff.

• does the brand matter much?
• what does ram actually do for school work?

do you guys have any specific recommendations for a student who just needs it to turn on and work without crashing every five minutes...