Replacement word processing/browsing laptop

[IllogicalGlory]

I have someone in the market for their first non-crap laptop. What I'm looking for is an ultrabook/ultrabook style laptop that's "thin and light" (<3 lbs, ideally close to 2), has a high-res IPS display (ideally above 1080p, if possible), a 256GB SSD and a processor that won't choke, probably a Skylake i5 or i7. Yeah, I know for browsing it might be overkill, but I have an Acer laptop with a Haswell "i5" (2C/4T) with an SSD that is actually pretty unpleasant to use. I don't want anything that would hurt the smoothness of the experience.

Ergonomics are quite important, perhaps paramount. They need a laptop that's pleasant to use, so a nice keyboard and quality trackpad are important.

Finally, I/O. We need a healthy number of USB ports, 3 or more. Nothing else will be used except perhaps a headphone jack.

Budget - <= $1000, not solid, but very preferable. Nothing $1500 or above.

TL;DR (in order of importance)

1. 1080p+ IPS display
2. quality construction and ergonomics
3. 256GB SSD
4. 3 or more USB ports
5. 8GB of RAM
6. i5/i7 processor (4 physical cores).

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

I'd even be open to a Macbook, but know almost literally nothing about them, so I don't know what to look for.

 

[giantpandaman2]

The requirements are out of line with both the budget (<=$1000) and with the "needs" (256GB SSD, 3+ USB, HQ (4 core) processor. 4 cores and 256GB SSD are unnecessary for word processing or web browsing. I don't know about your Acer, but even my ancient Thinkpad X220 was snappy with Word/Web browsing and a 128GB SSD. Personally, I'd blame any unpleasantness with your computer not on its processor, but on it being an Acer.

Back to an actual practical computer for that use case...I'd say a Surface Book, Samsung Notebook 9, or Dell XPS 13. None have four cores, all are pretty snappy with good screens, keyboards, and trackpads. All three are around $1300 decently equipped. (SB is more expensive normally but is on sale for $150 off.) Getting 3 or more USB ports is rare now. IIRC they all have 2 USB 3.0 slots. A hub solves this. Both the XPS and the SB have docks/dongles that enable far more ports/connectivity.

 

[nerp]

Thinkpad x260. Done.