Most I’m looking to pay is 500$ Looking for decent storage,good built quality, etc what’s some that would fit this thanks!
Anything from a used thinkpad to a used Mac fits your requirements
What are you going to study in college? Anything that might benefit from particular specs?
If you’re looking for a typewriter/browser I picked up a thinkpad gen 1 x1 nano for 1k usd recently. 3:2 high-res display, dual USB4 and that’s it. Excellent battery life and runs Debian stable like a champ. An M1 MacBook Air should go about the same and works great for the wife.
Are you doing any modeling eg. renders or high-res pictures? Does your school recommend anything? Anything else important for you?
You could try looking at what Chuwi has in stock. Heard the build quality is good and the price seems reasonable.
Either way, what I would recommend is getting the smallest RAM and Storage possible and replacing it with better ones yourself. Usually, that comes out cheaper. It’s also the easiest upgrades you could do. Just make sure it is 1) is actually cheaper and 2) possible, since some companies solder those components to the motherboard.
Also, knowing the use-case is very important, you haven’t provided the info.
Get something lightly used on eBay. Seriously. You can get a solid convertible laptop there for half the retail price.