Reddit mentions of Asus X540LA-SI30205P 15.6-Inch Flagship Premium Laptop (Intel Core i3-5020U 2.2GHz Processor, 4GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, Windows 10) Silver

ok for just For general usage and low gaming I would get the Asus 15.6inch X540LA-SI30205P laptop for you its a 15.6inch laptop. It comes with 5th Gen Intel CoreTM i3-5020U processor Smart dual-core, a 4GB system memory for basic multitasking and the 4gb ram is upgradable and 1 TB hard drive for ample file storage space which fit your budget perfectly. Also has a good battery life or the Dell Inspiron i3552-8040BLK 15.6 Inch Laptop (Intel Pentium, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD)

With the current generation of laptops? Impossible. Low-end Intel Braswell graphics is not fast enough for any games. But you can get a used device with dedicated graphics, or a previous gen device like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-X540LA-SI30205P-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Windows/dp/B01DMNX5PS

Runs World of Warships at 50 fps on low settings, so I guess WoT runs like that as well.

Btw, there's a template linked in the sidebar, I just guessed are from the US (you are, right?).

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Acer-Aspire-F-15-F5-571T-569T-Signature-Edition-Laptop/productID.329507100

found this one earlier for someone, it looks fairly good for its price 349$

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This one is 310$ and looks nice

https://www.amazon.com/Asus-X540LA-SI30205P-15-6-Inch-Laptop-Windows/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=sr_1_11?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1469667466&sr=1-11&keywords=laptops&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A2423841011%7C2242801011%2Cp_n_feature_fourteen_browse-bin%3A2057440011%7C2057441011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A2289794011%7C2289793011%7C2289792011

You are good to go with that budget then! This Asus X540LA-SI30205P 15.6-Inch Laptop with an i3 processor, 4 GB RAM and a massive 1 TB Hard drive will do an excellent job in running all those Microsoft applications you mentioned above as well as surf the internet wonderfully.

this light weight Asus 15.6" X540LA-SI30205P is without a doubt a great recommendation for you. it has a decent i3 cpu, a 4gb ram decent graphics and a 1tb hdd.

This one wont have quite as much performance power, but if youre not gaming or running intensive creative software, it should be alright.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DMNX5PS/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_20?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A11O56B84QTZTP

For me, this one in the "used" listing:

Asus X540LA-SI30205P 15.6-Inch Flagship Premium Laptop (Intel Core i3-5020U 2.2GHz Processor, 4GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, Windows 10) Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_NKjizb43AP2GY

$208

This has some good reviews
[Asus X540LA](Asus X540LA-SI30205P 15.6-Inch Laptop (Intel Core i3, 4GB Memory,1TB Hard Drive, Windows 10 Home), Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_3ic0xb3J6HYW7)

If you can go a little over budget (few dollars) I would go with the Asus 15.6" X540LA](https://www.amazon.com/Asus-X540LA-SI30205P-Laptop-Memory-Silver/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=bkadamos-20&linkId=d2ecda1363ada0c010bb4031fb428668) it comes with 15.6" display HD resolution, 5th Gen Intel CoreTM i3-5020U processor Smart dual-core, four-way processing performance for HD-quality computing, 4GB system memory for basic multitasking, 1TB hard drive for file storage space, Windows 10 operating system.

If you can't go over then I would suggest this HP AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU Processor 2.0 GHz (2 MB L2 Cache),AMD Radeon R4 graphics with up to 2GB total graphics memory
4GB DDR3L SDRAM 1600M Memory, 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive, 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView WLED-backlit display (1366x768)y. DTS Studio Sound with dual speakers
SuperMulti DVD burner, Full-size keyboard with numeric keypad(for typing essays and chatting online), Windows 10 Home 64-Bit operating system, Battery life up to 6 hours.

I would recommend you go with this Asus 15.6" X540LA-SI30205P Laptop . It has a nice i3 processor, great storage and a 4 GB RAM which will be great for watching movies, browsing the internet and similar tasks.... It will definitely not heat up doing any of those tasks- it doesn't matter to what extent as it's components will not be put under any immense pressure due to their qualities..

For what you want, you'd be fine with any of these:

Good: http://www.amazon.com/Acer-S3-391-6046-13-3-Inch-Ultrabook-Windows/dp/B00AH4A950/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1463103554&sr=8-10&keywords=i3+laptop

Better:http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-15-6-inch-Performance-Laptop-Professional/dp/B01AR2UWOO/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1463103554&sr=8-14&keywords=i3+laptop

Best:http://www.amazon.com/Asus-X540LA-SI30205P-Laptop-Memory-Silver/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463103554&sr=8-2&keywords=i3+laptop

Hope this helps

I did a bit of research on Amazon, and I came up with this as a possible candidate.

There's a lot of computers like that one out there; I'd probably recommend Best Buy as a good place to look for one in person. Last time I was there they had a good selection of cheap computers. One thing that you might want to watch out for are netbooks/Chromebooks that basically require you to have an internet connection in order to use them. I don't know if that be a problem for you, but it's something to be aware of, as they are often very cheap but the internet requirement can be a dealbreaker if you aren't certain that you'll always have a connection.

Not a ton far off. Here you go.

The i3 Dell 13 goes for $529. I honestly think it's an overkill for your needs. I would get a ~$200 Chromebook (see Asus C201) and spend the rest on a basic entry level Windows machine for your school needs (something like http://www.amazon.com/Asus-X540LA-SI30205P-Laptop-Memory-Silver/dp/B01DMNX5PS/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1465147286&sr=1-4&keywords=asus+laptop). And you'll still be under $500.