Best has a lot of sub requirements, and cheap goes against that notion. Need to be specific about use cases. No one has the best everything because there are always cuts on design.
If you want the most generic answer, an arbitrary lenovo thinkpad
Do you want something to surf the Internet, play games, software development, or something else? Do you want a small screen or large? Do you require a 10 key? There are a bunch of factors to consider when talking about the best laptop.
As he said I have a lenovo thinkpad and it's amazing, except if I want to game. If the game is a bit heavier it will get super slow. Some games I can't even play.
But for office/ internet stuff?! amazing!
I even use fusion 360 and it works great
You can buy a Lenovo X1 carbon from a couple of generations back that still kicks ass for well under $500. I grabbed a Gen 6 with an I5 in it for under $200, slapped a m.2 SSD in it, and now I have an amazing daily driver that I don't have to worry about.
With the preface of "cheap", do not ever buy a laptop under $500. They are simply underspecced by the time they get that low, and will give a bad experience.
I would also recommend something like a Lenovo ThinkPad, they are pretty damn tough. Maybe a ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 Intel. Spec it out to 16gb of memory and even the i3 processor will get your job done fine in Linux, while landing in under $650. Plus they have removable M.2 SSD's that can be changed out for a higher capacity very easily, and much much cheaper than the $300 they charge to kit it with a 1tb drive...
Get a good second hand laptop. I picked up a 2020 model X1 Carbon a few months ago for 🇦🇺$200 and paid another $90 for a new battery for it. Came to about $300 for a great little laptop.
This was for the kid to take to school, so I didn't want to be buying a $1,000 thing that he'd destroy.
My suggestion is to get a device that can do the stuff kids want, but just barely do the things they want.
I probably spent more time tinkering around the family computer than anything else as a kid just to get games way over-spec to run on it. Throughout that process I learned programming, hex editing, and some Linux system administration, which eventually led me to my current career.
These days, it's probably a lot easier to get started with a raspberry pi. But without something to motivate people to learn tech, why would they do it in the first place?
To add to that, a used ThinkPad can be really good even under $500. Companies mass buy and replace them so they get sold for really cheap considering their specs
I've bought sub $500 laptops several times in the last 6 years or so, and they were all great. Lenovo puts (or at least used to put) out Ideapads with Ryzen processors that are crazy cheap, and fairly upgradable.
Any second-hand business class laptop, i.e. HP Elitebook/Probook/Zbook, Dell Inspiron/Latitude/XPS, or Lenovo Thinkpad.
Businesses tend to get rid of them after 4 years, even if they're still in good condition. Great bang for your buck and easily repairable if something does end up breaking.
Piggyback question from OP but can someone give me a QRD on what's so great about ThinkPads? I've seen them in a lot of recommendation threads but they don't seem like anything special to me. What am I missing?
I'd probably go for a used ThinkPad, they're very sturdy and can take a lot of beating and on top of it it's easy to repair them yourself. That is what I did when I was at university and didn't have a company to sponsor a laptop for me.
You can always buy a USBC to barrel jack or whatever charger bit adapter. I did this with my surface, and work laptops for years. Just gotta make sure your USBC charger is up for the job. Got a 140w one now and works like a champ on my XPS, MacBook pro, steam deck, x1 carbon, surface book
I have a Thinkpad E14 AMD from work and it's fine. Zero complaints about the hardware. Got an extra USB C charger for it, but I've managed to charge it with my Nintendo Switch charger when needed.