A lot of backordered electronics. Pricey due to a semiconductor shortage and other supply issues.

I've had good luck with PCsforPeople refurbs. Just bought a Dell laptop with a 17 screen for a friend for $150 or so.

They come with MS Office, which can be pricy if you have to purchase it separately.

Search for Dell refurbished, the Dell company site, not another vendor. Good deals.

I use it for nearly all my web browsing and much of my writing.

This is my second Chromebook. My first was broken by our large overly enthusiastic dog.

I don't like babysitting expensive laptops, cameras, phones, etc., when I travel. I'm very good at losing things, breaking things, or leaving them out where they'll be stolen. I hated traveling with an expensive Windows laptop.

There's usually a good supply of recent model "refurbished" Chromebooks for less than $150.

One thing that might concern you is the "best before date" which is the date google stops promising updates for a given model.

https://www.theregister.com/2019/08/22/buying_a_chromebook_dont_forget_to_check_when_it_expires/

The machines don't stop working past their expiration date and google has been known to extend these dates for popular machines.

My desktop machine runs Linux. That's the machine I use for editing photos and videos, compiling software, and emulating all my old computers going back to the late 'seventies.

In terms of "evil" I think Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all tied in the race to the bottom. I've built Linux laptops before, but maybe that makes them too "heavy" in the sense that I'd be carrying about 45 years of computer baggage around with me.