Need Help On Which Laptop To Get. Any Suggestions?
By
Ayub, 28 November, 2025
Forum
Windows
Hello all,
I'm thinking of getting a windows laptop that can run JAWS smoothly. The has great performance and battery live. Is there any specific laptop I could get?
Anything affordable I should consider?
What's the maximum you could comfortably spend on a laptop?
Do you have a preference regarding overall device/screen size? For example, do you prefer a 13-inch, 14-inch, or 15-inch screen? Screen size will obviously impact how big the device is in general.
Besides performance and battery life, is anything else important to you?
1. For the price maybe up to $4,000.
2. For the screen size, I don't have a preference on the screen size.
3. I don't really have anything else about performance or battery life.
I can't recommend specific models, but I recommend getting something with at least 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB or 1 TB NVMe SSD. Any modern Intel or AMD Ryzen CPU should be decent, unless you plan to play demanding graphical video games or something like that.
You could also get something with an ARM processor, but if compatibility is top priority, don't do that just yet. An Intel or AMD X86_64 CPU is still the way to go.
That's quite a pricepoint. Here are some thoughts.
1. Copilot Plus laptops (basically all of them now) replace the right control key with the totally redundant Copilot key. I don't know how anyone can work without right-control. Any blind person, anyway. You can find discussions we've had about various brands and whether you can get that key back through remapping. Dell and Lenovo come out on top for copilot plus pcs on this point, because you can set it and forget it. I think Asus and HP might be out (but if you find someone saying that on here, it's probably me, so that's still only one source). Your price range also gets into the territory of high-end gaming powerhouses, which often don't do the copilot plus abomination. Those can have really great keyboards and speakers, as well as high-end CPUs, but lousy battery life.
2. I agree with Chris: 16Gb is ample for productivity. Any laptop from $800 up will run Jaws smoothly.
3. Avoid ARM. It runs fine, but parts of Jaws and none of NVDA runs natively, and that sucks battery life like no tomorrow (you can find my tests here on my Microsoft Surface). I wouldn't avoid it if the computer were perfect otherwise, but it's definitely not "better" than Intel or AMD.
4. The Insert key is important for screen readers, and it's not a given that a laptop will have one these days. Worst thing about the Macbook for me is the lack of a VoiceOver modifier on the right side of the keyboard, which creates so much of the keyboard yoga one has to do.
Brand notes:
1. Broken record time: Microsoft Surface does something unfathomable with the Fn key. If you are coming from a Mac, you'll doubtless hit it constantly when you want the control key, and this messes up the function keys and right control key. Only real problem with this computer, except for the poor battery life using NVDA.
2. The Dell 14 Pro Premium could be worth a look at the higher end of your range. They can make a good computer when they want to. People praise the keyboard, but make sure it's not the totally-flat "edge to edge" keyboard on their later top-end X13 model, which even sighted people said was hard to use.
3. Lenovo makes the best laptops. Period. Thinkpads are in your range, though their speakers are typically thin-sounding. Accessible system management utility, good keyboards. My personal choice would be the Yoga 7i slim, 14-inch, at least on paper.
4. Personally, I've never been tempted by other brands like Asus (no one has ever praised their keyboards), Acer (cheap), MSI (poor support and QC), HP (Brian likes them; mine started falling apart almost immediately).
HTH
Whenever somebody is looking for advice on here for a new PC, I always add the following link. It is what I am currently using. Merely two years ago, I took part in a couple of Sisqó certified online courses, one for cyber security, and one for network engineering. My VR counselor with my state department for the blind purchase this laptop for me, so that I could complete my coursework. I still use the laptop today, as it is truly a decent laptop. It is in no way top of the line, but it exceeds my needs. I do quite a bit on this machine, and including playing a few AAA mainstream games, such as Mortal Kombat 11, Skull Girls 2nd Encore, 1428 Shadows Over Silesia, Forza Motorsports, As Dusk Falls, Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition, and even Mortal Kombat 1.
I don't know if you need anything for computer science, such as programming, coding, or even IT work, but it has all the necessary hardware keys for it, including the typical home, end, page up, page down, insert, and delete keys, as well as the pause/break key. It also has a programmable touchpad, though admittedly not as robust as trackpad commander is for MacBook.
Anyways, check it out. 🙂
I would really recommend going Lenovo. My 15.6" Thinkbook from 2020-2021 (released in 2020 but I received it in 2021) is still kicking, but it only has 4 hours battery life and it's a bit too wide for me. I'm considering upgrading to a Yoga Slim 7. ThinkPads are also great, the X1 Carbon seems awesome.
And in response to Voracious P. Brain:
- What is the right control used for? I've never used it in my 5 years using a screen reader.
2. The modifier key can be easily changed from Insert to Caps Lock, but this is just a matter of preference. I've always changed it to caps lock, even now on my desktop PC. I've just never liked using Insert for some reason.
Brian: What is pause and break used for? My bf and I were trying to figure out what those keys were for the other day lol.
I really wish the Surface laptops were a viable option, but P. Brain has me worried. They're the closest to a MacBook (and I think it comes in purple), but the Snapdragon processors have me worried (I do hope they get better for compatability in the future) and their repairability is awful (according to a local computer shop).
Pause|Break is primarily used for running programs in command line, such as DOS (the early days), Command Prompt, and Terminal. Not just in Windows, but pretty much any OS. Last year (2024) my Cisco networking course used it for pausing and stopping (breaking) running programs within Terminal. On my particular machine, Pause and Break are achieved by pressing FN + Right Shift and FN + CTRL + Right Shift, respectively.
Here is a kind of silly, but informative video explaining a little more on their functions and also a little backstory.
Enjoy. 😎
Hi @Voracious P. Brain,
Will you explain what you find going on with the FN key on the Surface? I just ordered a Surface Laptop for testing purposes at work as a client was asking about Arm support so what kind of fun am I looking forward too? And how to deal with it? Thanks.
please. In the recent moddles you need sighted assistance to go in the eufi! and re enable regular function keys, the company has been doing a lot of sketchy things recently, and their battery replacement, well, is a scam. And I have one of the expensive business class laptop, which was in fact more expensive than my mac.
Lenovo and Asus are good takes. And honestly, dynabook is underrated from my experience.
Brian, thanks for clearing that up. I'm not a programmer in the slightest, they're just keys that I accidentally press on my computer :P
BlindGuy07 - I didn't mind the Dynabook I had as one of my work laptops, but I didn't like the feeling of the keyboard and it would just randomly sound like a jet plane taking off when I was doing something mundane. Though, that might've just been the one I had. It was still a good laptop otherwise.
If you need power/performance, I'd also suggest a slim gaming laptop (for longevity, too). The only caveat is that battery might not be as good as on something like a ThinkPad, Dynabook etc.
A laptop with a poor battery doesn't deserve to be called a laptop.
@Brian
I don't know, I have one of the "good" models where it's mapped to left shift + fn key to toggle between media and other keys and function keys for that top row. Zbook 14u g6 for anybody curious.
@Travis: To summarize my prior harangues about the Surface fn key: almost all other brands toggle Fn key functions with a combo like fn+esc to set which functions the function keys do. Microsoft toggles it just by tapping Fn Lock, which is between Windows and Control. So, easy to hit accidentally, particularly if one is used to a mac where that's the shut-up key location. Jaws reports when the key has been toggled, so it's less of a deal there, but NVDA doesn't. See my review from April or so on other stuff. Fantastic hardware--I mean, downright lush!--except for unexpectedly launching Copilot once in a while or discovering the function keys aren't working. If going that route, I recommend the Surface 13-inch over the more costly 13.8 inch I have, because the compromises are in my book plusses for a blind user, and the CPU will perform just as well on productivity tasks.
and @ Chamomile re Control key: I'm always surprised at how different all our use patterns are from one another. cut/copy/paste/select all shortcuts without right-control? move by word and paragraph? Why use two hands when I can use one? As a rapid touch typist, anything that moves my hands from the home row is bad design, and some of those combos call for it.
Hi,
So configuring the BIOS with PowerShell still works. I just tried getting into the configurations and the script still works. My laptop doesn't even have a right CTRL key, but it does have two Enter keys instead. I needed the right CTRL key for a game I was playing a couple of months back, so I configured the other Enter key with SharpKeys. As for which laptop, I wouldn't mind a Dell or Linovo next time, this HP is OK, but it isn't as good as the other HP I had. The fan is really loud sometimes.
Thanks for the explanation. I've had many laptops over the years and the Fn key toggle varies, that's for sure. I probably hate the ThinkPad the most, putting the FN key where the Control key is supposed to be. If you're used to a Mac which does the same thing that might not bother you. Fortunately on mine there is a software toggle to reverse them. And yes I agree about the right-control turning into CoPilot. I think that can be changed but I've been lazy and not tried on the GalaxyBook4 Pro I have. The crazy thing is Microsoft has another shortcut, windows+c, to launch it, so it is entirely unnecessary to take away the control key.
I guess I've been lucky, my laptop's right control key, is still a right control key. I like to use it often, when reading a long document, or reading text on a webpage, as the right control key, is just to the left of my left arrow key. So, holding down right control plus tapping down arrow, equals comfortably reading large documents by paragraph, or webpages, such as these AppleVis forums, with one hand. 🤓
So far, the only CoPilot hotkey I have is the Windows plus C variation, and I can't seem to get rid of that one. 🤷🏻♂️
It's high time Apple brought back their bootcamp support for Windows on Arm for their M4 devices. Windows Arm is becoming a viable option these days since so many commonly used programs have been released with compatible versions. Even NVDA's latest versions do officialy support Windows on ARM.
I love Macbook air's body, I hate that it can't run Windows.
I believe all Lenovos have always had the software option to swap Fn and control. Yet another checkmark in their favor. They do seem to come out the winner for the OP on this thread. I loved my old Thinkpad 20 years ago.
@ Brian, the whole copilot key thing is late 2024 models and beyond. Utterly redundant way to push their new toy in people's faces. Hopefully, they'll get over it, at least to the extent of allowing control as an option in settings. Again, for those not on the older threads, there are hacks to remap it that work on some brands but not others.
Still agog at how anyone could not rely on the right control key constantly. Not just the editing shortcuts, but Save...Undo...Redo... Alt-control combinations I've created... How do you even hit NVDA+control+F without it unless you play hand twister, at least on a laptop without an Insert key?If anyone remembers the car "The Homer" from the Simpsons, I'm the modifier key equivalent: "You can never have enough horns."
Too, I've been using all those shortcuts since DOS, which could explain a lot.
I think we scared off the OP after like the second post...
They do make some sweet laptops. My ex used to have this one, I don't think Microsoft makes these anymore, but it was called a signature edition. I think I've talked about it on here before, but it was purchased from Microsoft, and it had stock Windows 10 on it at the time. Keep in mind this was like a decade Ago, give or take. But it was a really nice laptop, had the FN lock hotkey, which was very nice. Also, if I remember correctly, it had a hardware trackpad lock as well.
Finally, this laptop you could literally flip the screen backwards and turn the whole device into a tablet.
As the god of windows on here, or one of the handful of such daisies who grace these forums, how are you running Forza Motorsport on that laptop? It's a super demanding game as far as I understood it and is one of the reasons I'm chasing my tale on 'the perfect PC'. Is that running on just an IGPU and, if so, it must be an older gen... Or, are you simply cheating and streaming from xbox cloud?
Sorry to hijack the thread.
To ad to the discussion, the AMD and Intel Zenbooks came highly reviewed and I nearly bought one of the higher end ones. Might be worth looking into. I quite liked the smaller surface laptop. A little chunkier than a macbook air, but good build, good speakers and really nice keyboard. The function lock thing, as others have said, was annoying though. I can't remember if I managed to fix it or ... I have a feeling I used sharp keys to remap... then again, i didn't have it for very long.
I play it via Xbox game pass, on my laptop. It seems to play well, though I admittedly do not play it often. The learning curve is crazy steep, and I tend to be easily frustrated.
If you want to talk about a resource hog, that would be Mortal Kombat 1, of all of the titles I listed above. That one is tough. I actually have a secondary display, a 24 inch desktop monitor from Asus, that I use exclusively for gaming needs. I hook it up via HDMI, because it has a much better refresh rate than my laptop does. That title is a PC title directly from steam btw. 😅
It's not Apple's decision, as they tried to get Microsoft to license running Windows as a host OS on ARM-based Macs when the M1 launched, and Microsoft refused apparently because they already had a secret exclusive deal with Qualcomm for Windows on ARM at the time. While that deal may have already ended last year, I speculate that Microsoft's stance against Windows on ARM-based Macs remains, given how proactively open Apple actually was about trying to make sure that Windows was an available option right from the start.
In an Ars Technica interview, they cite Craig Federighi replying the following when asked about Windows on M1 Macs:
As for Windows running natively on the machine, “that’s really up to Microsoft,” he said. “We have the core technologies for them to do that, to run their ARM version of Windows, which in turn of course supports x86 user mode applications. But that’s a decision Microsoft has to make, to bring to license that technology for users to run on these Macs. But the Macs are certainly very capable of it.”
I've had considerable success with Lenovo ThinkPad machines (and MacBook Pro, of course, but that's a different topic).
If you want to run Linux on it, as I do, it's best to check online for discussions of hardware compatibility. Lenovo and Dell certify some of their machines to run Linux.
Comments
Some Questions
Hi Ayub,
A couple questions:
Re: Some Questions
1. For the price maybe up to $4,000.
2. For the screen size, I don't have a preference on the screen size.
3. I don't really have anything else about performance or battery life.
Specifications
I can't recommend specific models, but I recommend getting something with at least 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB or 1 TB NVMe SSD. Any modern Intel or AMD Ryzen CPU should be decent, unless you plan to play demanding graphical video games or something like that.
You could also get something with an ARM processor, but if compatibility is top priority, don't do that just yet. An Intel or AMD X86_64 CPU is still the way to go.
factors to consider
That's quite a pricepoint. Here are some thoughts.
1. Copilot Plus laptops (basically all of them now) replace the right control key with the totally redundant Copilot key. I don't know how anyone can work without right-control. Any blind person, anyway. You can find discussions we've had about various brands and whether you can get that key back through remapping. Dell and Lenovo come out on top for copilot plus pcs on this point, because you can set it and forget it. I think Asus and HP might be out (but if you find someone saying that on here, it's probably me, so that's still only one source). Your price range also gets into the territory of high-end gaming powerhouses, which often don't do the copilot plus abomination. Those can have really great keyboards and speakers, as well as high-end CPUs, but lousy battery life.
2. I agree with Chris: 16Gb is ample for productivity. Any laptop from $800 up will run Jaws smoothly.
3. Avoid ARM. It runs fine, but parts of Jaws and none of NVDA runs natively, and that sucks battery life like no tomorrow (you can find my tests here on my Microsoft Surface). I wouldn't avoid it if the computer were perfect otherwise, but it's definitely not "better" than Intel or AMD.
4. The Insert key is important for screen readers, and it's not a given that a laptop will have one these days. Worst thing about the Macbook for me is the lack of a VoiceOver modifier on the right side of the keyboard, which creates so much of the keyboard yoga one has to do.
Brand notes:
1. Broken record time: Microsoft Surface does something unfathomable with the Fn key. If you are coming from a Mac, you'll doubtless hit it constantly when you want the control key, and this messes up the function keys and right control key. Only real problem with this computer, except for the poor battery life using NVDA.
2. The Dell 14 Pro Premium could be worth a look at the higher end of your range. They can make a good computer when they want to. People praise the keyboard, but make sure it's not the totally-flat "edge to edge" keyboard on their later top-end X13 model, which even sighted people said was hard to use.
3. Lenovo makes the best laptops. Period. Thinkpads are in your range, though their speakers are typically thin-sounding. Accessible system management utility, good keyboards. My personal choice would be the Yoga 7i slim, 14-inch, at least on paper.
4. Personally, I've never been tempted by other brands like Asus (no one has ever praised their keyboards), Acer (cheap), MSI (poor support and QC), HP (Brian likes them; mine started falling apart almost immediately).
HTH
Here's an option for you
Whenever somebody is looking for advice on here for a new PC, I always add the following link. It is what I am currently using. Merely two years ago, I took part in a couple of Sisqó certified online courses, one for cyber security, and one for network engineering. My VR counselor with my state department for the blind purchase this laptop for me, so that I could complete my coursework. I still use the laptop today, as it is truly a decent laptop. It is in no way top of the line, but it exceeds my needs. I do quite a bit on this machine, and including playing a few AAA mainstream games, such as Mortal Kombat 11, Skull Girls 2nd Encore, 1428 Shadows Over Silesia, Forza Motorsports, As Dusk Falls, Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition, and even Mortal Kombat 1.
I don't know if you need anything for computer science, such as programming, coding, or even IT work, but it has all the necessary hardware keys for it, including the typical home, end, page up, page down, insert, and delete keys, as well as the pause/break key. It also has a programmable touchpad, though admittedly not as robust as trackpad commander is for MacBook.
Anyways, check it out. 🙂
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BY3PGDZR/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2V8LKBNX6A82&psc=1
Thoughts
I would really recommend going Lenovo. My 15.6" Thinkbook from 2020-2021 (released in 2020 but I received it in 2021) is still kicking, but it only has 4 hours battery life and it's a bit too wide for me. I'm considering upgrading to a Yoga Slim 7. ThinkPads are also great, the X1 Carbon seems awesome.
And in response to Voracious P. Brain:
- What is the right control used for? I've never used it in my 5 years using a screen reader.
2. The modifier key can be easily changed from Insert to Caps Lock, but this is just a matter of preference. I've always changed it to caps lock, even now on my desktop PC. I've just never liked using Insert for some reason.
Brian: What is pause and break used for? My bf and I were trying to figure out what those keys were for the other day lol.
I really wish the Surface laptops were a viable option, but P. Brain has me worried. They're the closest to a MacBook (and I think it comes in purple), but the Snapdragon processors have me worried (I do hope they get better for compatability in the future) and their repairability is awful (according to a local computer shop).
@Chamomile
Pause|Break is primarily used for running programs in command line, such as DOS (the early days), Command Prompt, and Terminal. Not just in Windows, but pretty much any OS. Last year (2024) my Cisco networking course used it for pausing and stopping (breaking) running programs within Terminal. On my particular machine, Pause and Break are achieved by pressing FN + Right Shift and FN + CTRL + Right Shift, respectively.
Here is a kind of silly, but informative video explaining a little more on their functions and also a little backstory.
Enjoy. 😎
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OezLBfb6Lc
icrosoft Surface
Hi @Voracious P. Brain,
Will you explain what you find going on with the FN key on the Surface? I just ordered a Surface Laptop for testing purposes at work as a client was asking about Arm support so what kind of fun am I looking forward too? And how to deal with it? Thanks.
Don't buy anything HP
please. In the recent moddles you need sighted assistance to go in the eufi! and re enable regular function keys, the company has been doing a lot of sketchy things recently, and their battery replacement, well, is a scam. And I have one of the expensive business class laptop, which was in fact more expensive than my mac.
Lenovo and Asus are good takes. And honestly, dynabook is underrated from my experience.
@TheBlindGuy07
Does the PowersShell trick no longer work on HP models?
So... more thoughts
Brian, thanks for clearing that up. I'm not a programmer in the slightest, they're just keys that I accidentally press on my computer :P
BlindGuy07 - I didn't mind the Dynabook I had as one of my work laptops, but I didn't like the feeling of the keyboard and it would just randomly sound like a jet plane taking off when I was doing something mundane. Though, that might've just been the one I had. It was still a good laptop otherwise.
If you need power/performance, I'd also suggest a slim gaming laptop (for longevity, too). The only caveat is that battery might not be as good as on something like a ThinkPad, Dynabook etc.
I have learned one thing over the years
A laptop with a poor battery doesn't deserve to be called a laptop.
@Brian
I don't know, I have one of the "good" models where it's mapped to left shift + fn key to toggle between media and other keys and function keys for that top row. Zbook 14u g6 for anybody curious.
Fn Lock on Surface and use of control key
@Travis: To summarize my prior harangues about the Surface fn key: almost all other brands toggle Fn key functions with a combo like fn+esc to set which functions the function keys do. Microsoft toggles it just by tapping Fn Lock, which is between Windows and Control. So, easy to hit accidentally, particularly if one is used to a mac where that's the shut-up key location. Jaws reports when the key has been toggled, so it's less of a deal there, but NVDA doesn't. See my review from April or so on other stuff. Fantastic hardware--I mean, downright lush!--except for unexpectedly launching Copilot once in a while or discovering the function keys aren't working. If going that route, I recommend the Surface 13-inch over the more costly 13.8 inch I have, because the compromises are in my book plusses for a blind user, and the CPU will perform just as well on productivity tasks.
and @ Chamomile re Control key: I'm always surprised at how different all our use patterns are from one another. cut/copy/paste/select all shortcuts without right-control? move by word and paragraph? Why use two hands when I can use one? As a rapid touch typist, anything that moves my hands from the home row is bad design, and some of those combos call for it.
BIOS and PowerShell, and the right CTRL key.
Hi,
So configuring the BIOS with PowerShell still works. I just tried getting into the configurations and the script still works. My laptop doesn't even have a right CTRL key, but it does have two Enter keys instead. I needed the right CTRL key for a game I was playing a couple of months back, so I configured the other Enter key with SharpKeys. As for which laptop, I wouldn't mind a Dell or Linovo next time, this HP is OK, but it isn't as good as the other HP I had. The fan is really loud sometimes.
Re: Fn Lock on Surface and use of control key
Thanks for the explanation. I've had many laptops over the years and the Fn key toggle varies, that's for sure. I probably hate the ThinkPad the most, putting the FN key where the Control key is supposed to be. If you're used to a Mac which does the same thing that might not bother you. Fortunately on mine there is a software toggle to reverse them. And yes I agree about the right-control turning into CoPilot. I think that can be changed but I've been lazy and not tried on the GalaxyBook4 Pro I have. The crazy thing is Microsoft has another shortcut, windows+c, to launch it, so it is entirely unnecessary to take away the control key.
Re: CoPilot
I guess I've been lucky, my laptop's right control key, is still a right control key. I like to use it often, when reading a long document, or reading text on a webpage, as the right control key, is just to the left of my left arrow key. So, holding down right control plus tapping down arrow, equals comfortably reading large documents by paragraph, or webpages, such as these AppleVis forums, with one hand. 🤓
So far, the only CoPilot hotkey I have is the Windows plus C variation, and I can't seem to get rid of that one. 🤷🏻♂️
I truely wish
It's high time Apple brought back their bootcamp support for Windows on Arm for their M4 devices. Windows Arm is becoming a viable option these days since so many commonly used programs have been released with compatible versions. Even NVDA's latest versions do officialy support Windows on ARM.
I love Macbook air's body, I hate that it can't run Windows.
copilot, control
I believe all Lenovos have always had the software option to swap Fn and control. Yet another checkmark in their favor. They do seem to come out the winner for the OP on this thread. I loved my old Thinkpad 20 years ago.
@ Brian, the whole copilot key thing is late 2024 models and beyond. Utterly redundant way to push their new toy in people's faces. Hopefully, they'll get over it, at least to the extent of allowing control as an option in settings. Again, for those not on the older threads, there are hacks to remap it that work on some brands but not others.
Still agog at how anyone could not rely on the right control key constantly. Not just the editing shortcuts, but Save...Undo...Redo... Alt-control combinations I've created... How do you even hit NVDA+control+F without it unless you play hand twister, at least on a laptop without an Insert key?If anyone remembers the car "The Homer" from the Simpsons, I'm the modifier key equivalent: "You can never have enough horns."
Too, I've been using all those shortcuts since DOS, which could explain a lot.
I think we scared off the OP after like the second post...
I will agree on Lenovo
They do make some sweet laptops. My ex used to have this one, I don't think Microsoft makes these anymore, but it was called a signature edition. I think I've talked about it on here before, but it was purchased from Microsoft, and it had stock Windows 10 on it at the time. Keep in mind this was like a decade Ago, give or take. But it was a really nice laptop, had the FN lock hotkey, which was very nice. Also, if I remember correctly, it had a hardware trackpad lock as well.
Finally, this laptop you could literally flip the screen backwards and turn the whole device into a tablet.
Brian...
As the god of windows on here, or one of the handful of such daisies who grace these forums, how are you running Forza Motorsport on that laptop? It's a super demanding game as far as I understood it and is one of the reasons I'm chasing my tale on 'the perfect PC'. Is that running on just an IGPU and, if so, it must be an older gen... Or, are you simply cheating and streaming from xbox cloud?
Sorry to hijack the thread.
To ad to the discussion, the AMD and Intel Zenbooks came highly reviewed and I nearly bought one of the higher end ones. Might be worth looking into. I quite liked the smaller surface laptop. A little chunkier than a macbook air, but good build, good speakers and really nice keyboard. The function lock thing, as others have said, was annoying though. I can't remember if I managed to fix it or ... I have a feeling I used sharp keys to remap... then again, i didn't have it for very long.
Re: Motorsports
I play it via Xbox game pass, on my laptop. It seems to play well, though I admittedly do not play it often. The learning curve is crazy steep, and I tend to be easily frustrated.
If you want to talk about a resource hog, that would be Mortal Kombat 1, of all of the titles I listed above. That one is tough. I actually have a secondary display, a 24 inch desktop monitor from Asus, that I use exclusively for gaming needs. I hook it up via HDMI, because it has a much better refresh rate than my laptop does. That title is a PC title directly from steam btw. 😅
Edited for typos.
Re: I truely wish
It's not Apple's decision, as they tried to get Microsoft to license running Windows as a host OS on ARM-based Macs when the M1 launched, and Microsoft refused apparently because they already had a secret exclusive deal with Qualcomm for Windows on ARM at the time. While that deal may have already ended last year, I speculate that Microsoft's stance against Windows on ARM-based Macs remains, given how proactively open Apple actually was about trying to make sure that Windows was an available option right from the start.
In an Ars Technica interview, they cite Craig Federighi replying the following when asked about Windows on M1 Macs:
@ Ayub
Honestly with that budget you should go with a company where you can build your own and customize it.
Lenovo ThinkPad
I've had considerable success with Lenovo ThinkPad machines (and MacBook Pro, of course, but that's a different topic).
If you want to run Linux on it, as I do, it's best to check online for discussions of hardware compatibility. Lenovo and Dell certify some of their machines to run Linux.