Laptop brands are still trying to get away with 8GB RAM machines for general use, and especially at that value point of $200 you'll probably see 2-4GB models to

Laptop brands are still trying to get away with 8GB RAM machines for general use, and especially at that value point of $200 you'll probably see 2-4GB models too. You have a niche use-case but RAM does indeed appear to be the main bottleneck. You don't need fancy graphics, or a particularly fast CPU. You likely only need good single-core speeds. The i5-12400 is a workhorse on the CPU front that isn't crazy old, and should do you well enough on the single core front. Pair that with 16GB of RAM and I would think you'd be set. $1,000 might get you more if you wanted to be safe and future proof a bit more. However, RAM prices are very high right now and venturing up to 32GB of RAM might hard. Something like this: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-zenbook-14-14-fhd-oled-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-ultra-9-32gb-ram-1tb-ssd-jasper-gray/JJGGLH7H3Y https://www.bestbuy.com/product/asus-zenbook-14-14-fhd-oled-... 32GB RAM, nice screen, touch screen, very modern CPU (beating the 12400 benchmark). $100 under your top end of budget. It is only a 14 inch screen, great for portability, but maybe you like a bigger screen for reviewing as much content as possible?