Avoid Dell and HP.
They have the worst quality control rating in the industry.
Solid ?
Number one is Panasonic.
They are used by field scientists, military and police.
inexpensive ?
Sharp or Toshiba. Not cheap, but it will last for years. Battery will not explode like a Dell.
Sony is not cheap either, but descent hardware.
You can purchase a one time replacement in case the laptop gets destroyed.
AVOID DELL AND HP.
THEY ARE JUNK.
Pretty little pieces of junk.
None of these laptops pass the drop test.
Broken out of the box for Dell is almost 10% from consumer reports.
Personally I had one out of three HP products broken out of the box.
Apple computers are OK.
Solid operating system. Hardware is soso.
Software is bit expensive and harder to find compared to PCs.
Apple charges a LOT of money to repair their laptops.
My case got bent and to replace just the lower case on my laptop cost almost $600.