As far as I can tell, this Acer Aspire 5 is the same price as the one in the $600-699 category but has the newer i5-10210 instead of the i5-8265. Not seeing any other differences in specs :) Any reason to favor the i5-8265 model?

Hi, the Acer Aspire 5 is probably your best bet. It has an MX250 graphics card, perfect for light gaming.

Hey, I'm going to update my request. I posted earlier in the week and had time to think this weekend.

Reflections:

• Shopping for laptops is stressful; almost every lower-budget machine has big trade-offs these days!
  
• Lots of cheaper machines make compromises on basic quality of life; screen, keyboard, touchpad and so on..
  
• I really like the aesthetic of the Asus Zenbooks with the Ergo-Hinge, but they're all very different model to model.
  
• I've noticed QA issues amongst the reviews for products with the R5-3500u/3700u as well as heat/noise concerns. In retrospect these are issues that I don't want to gamble on; which also makes the Lenovo Flex 14'' & APU's less attractive.
  
• The Flex 14'' is a really good value and has a pretty secure spot at being a 2nd or 3rd choice.
  
• Something I've realized is that I don't really need a dedicated GDDR5 GPU like the MX150 or MX250.
  
  

  General Usage Habits:
  

  
  

• 10-15 Firefox Tabs
  
• Youtube, Spotify, Pandora.
  
• Netflix, Amazon Prime, Streaming.
  
• I'd like to play around w/ Linux.
  
  Budget: Initially; $400-600; but concern with build quality pushes me towards < $1000
  
  Country: USA ~Getting to a Microcenter, BestBuy or Walmart isn't a problem.
  
  Screen size: 13-14'' -- 1080p; prefer SSD & 8GB of RAM.
  
  Screen resolution: Prefer 1080p with solid brightness & good viewing angles.
  
  Heat:
  
  Sound: I'll likely bring my soundbar/headphones, but sound isn't unimportant.
  
  Touch screen: Depends; I think it's almost mandatory for Chromebooks & less so for laptops.
  
  Battery Life: I want something that's fairly powerful but can last a full school day (5-10 hours).
  
  Weight**: Less than 5 lbs; considering various Chromebooks & Ultrabooks; the lighter the better.
  
  Tl;DR - Laptops & Chromebooks that I'm considering:
  
  

  Laptops:
  

  
  

1. Asus Zenbook UX333FA-DH51 $840
   
2. Asus Vivobook S14-S432 & S15-S532 $750-900
   
3. Acer Aspire Slim 5: A515-54G-53H6 $650
   
4. Lenovo Flex 14'' R5-3500u $560
   https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/ideapad/ideapad-flex-series/Lenovo-IdeaPad-FLEX-15IWL/p/88IP8FX1272 (Lenovo Holiday sales ~ 10th Gen Intel = nice integrated graphics (for me anyway..)
   
5. ASUS ZenBook 13 UX333FA-DH51
   
6. HP Spectre x360 15-ch011dx Convertible
   
   I know that I could get better "value" - with a 10th gen i5 & an MX250 w/ the Acer Aspire Slim 5. The hardware is better, but I find the build quality concerning because this is a machine that'll go pretty much everywhere with me. The Vivobook, while less expensive loses a lot of battery life compared to the UX333FA; which I'm considering picking up used or possibly on Ebay because I love the aesthetic and getting it for ~ $700 is a much more competitive deal for me.
   
   Edit (adding some Microcenter deals) UX333FA-DH51 is @ $800 & HP Spectre x360 is at $850/800 too.

This is probably the next step down. Plastic build so compromise there. Similiar CPU much slower GPU. $650 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XJRGKKD

The next step down is the Thinkpad E495. Its a better built metal frame 14" laptop that isnt too bulky. Its got a Ryzen 5 3500U which is slightly weaker than the other CPUs. But this CPU has pretty strong integrated graphics. Obviously nothing compared to dedicated GPU though. $500 https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000J-008F8

this is the better option it comes with double the ram and newer CPU which is why it is 150 more :)

Yeah here is the link she sent me A515-54G-53H6

I'm not really spec literate so I just see numbers and buzzwords lol.