Regrettably I think the Schelling-laptop is a Macbook, not a cheap laptop. (To slightly expand: if you’re unopinionated and don’t have specific needs that are poorly served by Macs, I think they’re among the most efficient ways to buy your way out of various kinds of frustrations with owning and maintaining a laptop. I say this as someone who grew up on Windows, spent a couple years running Ubuntu on an XPS but otherwise mainlined Windows, and was finally exposed to Macbooks in a professional context ~6 years ago; at this point my next personal laptop will almost certainly also be a Macbook. They also have the benefit of being popular enough that they’re a credible contender for an actual schelling point.)
Regrettably I think the Schelling-laptop is a Macbook, not a cheap laptop. (To slightly expand: if you’re unopinionated and don’t have specific needs that are poorly served by Macs, I think they’re among the most efficient ways to buy your way out of various kinds of frustrations with owning and maintaining a laptop. I say this as someone who grew up on Windows, spent a couple years running Ubuntu on an XPS but otherwise mainlined Windows, and was finally exposed to Macbooks in a professional context ~6 years ago; at this point my next personal laptop will almost certainly also be a Macbook. They also have the benefit of being popular enough that they’re a credible contender for an actual schelling point.)