Update: ended the ordering the Lenovo flex 5 14 inch with 16 gb of RAM for 64k but without the sRGB display as no alternative in similar form factor was found around given price range.
Would strongly recommend a MacBook Air even at 8gb RAM.
From the description of the kind of workload you're writing about, I think 8gb would be sufficient unless you're running excel spreadsheets with 100,000+ computed cells or PPTs/DOCs with 100+ pages or 10+ tabs in a web browser all the time...
IMHO, the MacBooks are the only computers worth buying in the last 3 years. Nothing comes close to them in terms of battery life, integrated display+speakers and overall experience across all 7 of your requirements.
If you don't want to purchase the newest M3 based Macs, then definitely consider...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thinness and lightness of the computer is more important to me over upgradable RAM. Unfortunately, computers with upgradable RAM tend to be chunkier and heavier than soldered ones. Anyway, I have rarely had to upgraded RAM on my previous computers, so, this...
@Emperor , while I appreciate your thought, I have never actually used that option with my old laptops. So, upgradable RAM doesn't add much value for me.
Slightly tangential, I use an 16" M2P professionally and also own an 14" M3P .
I recommend trying to use a 14" full time. In my experience, the 14" is significantly better at being a "laptop" than the 16" model. I enjoy the smaller form factor much more in my daily life than the bigger screen...
I'm in the market for a decent laptop which can serve:
* casual daily use such as web browsing, email, messaging, movies and such
* light Adobe Photoshop/photo editing and graphics design work including Adobe Lightroom, Canva etc
* basic coding work such as html, javascript, css, python etc
*...