My computer knowledge is also outdated. Used to be a computer whiz until 2006 when I bought my first Apple.
Once I switched to Apple I’ve never had to worry about computer issues because everything just worked the way you’d expect, and therefore didn’t have any reason to keep my computer knowledge up to date.
Gaming laptop tends to be heavier because they need battery life in hours, not minutes. Those performance really eats up power.
If you do video editing and old games then get a macbook pro. 30,000 might be on the low side for apple though.
Otherwise a surface pro should work too.
If you want gaming performance, get a desktop.
Based on the OP’s description of what he needs, the M1 MacBook Air would have been the best fit if he were open to Macs. He doesn’t need 8k video editing so no need for a MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air is cheap (within his budget), easy to buy, good warranty, lightweight, slim and portable, fast, powerful, long battery life, 4K display, and good graphics for 4K video editing and older games. Although I don’t know if the specific games he wants have Mac versions.
Anyway, this is a moot point. Too bad he wants a Windows computer, so he’ll probably have to make some compromises, and choose between price, portability, battery life, and power.
Does it have to be a laptop? Could pick parts from shop and they’d build it for you. Then buy a decent monitor and keyboard. Best Taipei shops for prices Coolpc (原價屋線上估價-含稅) and this (https://nt66mobile.com.tw/)
as if the mac doesn’t have compromises.
Nope! The new Apple Silicon MacBooks have high portability, high power, and high power efficiency. Intel still hasn’t figured out a way to make CPUs like that yet, so in Windows PCs you can only have one or two out of the three. Not all three.
But they don’t have the USB ports he wants
They do, if you get the Pro.
BTW I wasn’t suggesting OP switch to Macs. He already said he doesn’t want to. I was just responding to Marco’s comment.
no they don’t, no USB A
Now I’m glad I got the “f” word in early. 
Ah, you’re right about that. It’s the Mac Minis that have them.
So you’re saying the mac has no compromises for OP. Is that true?
False. I didn’t say anything about the OP in my response to you, and neither did you. OP already indicated he wants a Windows.
Paying over the odds would be a compromise in itself anyway…
Ignoring the OP’s wishes to use Windows. Macs come with no compromises?
I think you are missing one crucial use case from his post that I would see as a deal breaking compromise.
Are you sure that the mac is without compromises?
For the average user, correct. Not even in price, as Andrew claimed in his last post. For $899 you can get an Apple Silicon MacBook Air that runs faster than any Windows laptop you can get at that price.
Of course, if you’re someone who builds computers and takes them apart and puts in aftermarket components (ie not an average user), then Macs aren’t for you.
I think you are missing a very crucial component/use case. Even for average users that don’t build computers.
What am I missing?
Apple Silicon is based off of ARM. A completely different architecture. Game devs primarily write for Windows on the x86 and x64 architecture for graphics processors that support Direct3D and Vulkan APIs. These are fundamentally incompatible without emulation or translation layers and absolutely tank performance. Apple’s Rosetta II translation layer provides acceptable levels of performance for Intel software written for macOS because Apple has control of macOS and most apps are fairly lightweight and lowered performance would not be noticeable. Translation between OSs, graphics APIs, and CPU architectures simultaneously for apps would be quite the feat! Especially translating from an architecture as open as the 40-year-old-and-still-building-upon-with-infinite-combos-of-hw IBM-Compatible Personal Computer, performance for software written exclusively for this platform, like gaming, with a need for high performance will not be able to provide the performance needed on a mac, if it even runs at all.
I didn’t mention gaming because I figured most people use computers for work, but Apple announced a few months ago that the new operating system will allow gave developers to port Windows games into macOS with minimal effort (and NOT through Rosetta emulation). What used to take a whole dev team months or years to do, will now take a single dev only a few days or a week.
When the OS releases next month, we will start seeing game studios port their games to macOS with minimal overhead.