my next laptop

a few years back I replaced my Surface Pro 3 that had power issues with an HP Spectre 360 after reading reviews of Lenovo, Dell, Microsoft and HP offerings. I thought the 360 formfactor would be interesting to explore after the 2-in-1 Surface Pro. I am not a power user, so I configured it with as an I5/8 GB/256 GB SSD laptop but I splurged on the copper tones to have it stand out a bit. I ran into problems and went through a warranty exchange more times than I care to share (I am on my 4th laptop). I write this off as a bad run of laptops and while it will impact my future decisions, it will be as a tie-breaker. The HP is a well-designed machine and I appreciate the support they have provided – though it has been an ordeal. Along the lines after I escalated the problems, corporate upgraded me to an I7/16 GB/512 GB SSD. I am spoiled!

Over this past week – I was camping and broke out an old Surface 3 I had put in the camper for times I may need more than a phone. I had some Zoom calls to make and wound up using it for consumption as well as some 3D Builder to design a bracket that I needed. I appreciate the 3×2 screen ratio over the more traditional 16×9 screen the Spectre provides. I found I value the 2-in-1 formfactor over the 360 formfactor. I thought the versatility of the 360 with laptop mode, tent mode and tablet mode would be more useful – it isn’t. Ripping off the cover or just folding it back was better than the bulkiness of the 360. I am reconsidering what I want to replace the 360 with when the time comes.

as I said, I am not a power-user. I am wondering if the Surface Go would meet my needs – but the price and the battery life are not exciting me. I see some nice Costco Surface Pro 7 bundles at Costco but I am wondering about the configuration. Would an I5/8GB/128GB SSD meet my needs or should I look at more RAM and larger SSD? I doubt I need more than the 10th Gen of the I5. I have mostly transitioned to an Internet connected solution storing all my files on OneDrive. I do not install movies to watch offline – and if I did, there is always the SD Card option. so from folks experiences here – is a 128 GB machine adequate for your need?

thanks for the long read!