Wow...sad to see gramps' post in this thread.
RIP, Larry!
So, that same Lenovo Yoga 2 13" I mentioned two years ago in this thread? That was a computer from 2014, and it is
still holding up remarkably well.
I
did spend a pretty penny on that one (MSRP on them was ~$900...but I did get an education discount thru my wife's employer).
I'll easily get another few years out of it. It's a lot like buying good motorcycle gear; pay for it once, and enjoy it for a long time.
You want RAM - 4G or more the better. Hard drive size 250Gb or more is good...solid state drive? The one I have has an early SSD version which is a hybrid drive. They'll boot quickly with the SSD drive. Be certain it's a 64-bit machine, rather than 32-bit. The one I have is 4 lbs. Great for travel *away* from the bike.
Ports? USB3 is better. The one item this Lenovo didn't have is an Ethernet port. I purchased a Ethernet dongle ($40) that plugs into my USB3 port that allows for wired internet. Yes, there are still places that charge for wireless Internet, but the wired access is free.
This machine has a SD card slot, which has become intermittent. I doubt I'd do that again; I think external USB-C card readers & other peripherals will be faster overall; less crap on the machine itself to worry about.
The mousepads always suck on every laptop I've had, so I still carry around a wired Microsoft mouse - bombproof.
That'll get you started.