Decent Ultraportable advice wanted

JCW

Hello all I have been scouring the forums here looking for recommended machines for college, most seem to be 15" or larger im looking for something a bit smaller, I dont really have a budget but I am a student with limited funds so any money I save could be better spent on other things, I keep coming back to the XPS 13 but it seems way above what I should be spending and seems to suffer from some issues (FHD model Screen brightness, touchpad issues, WiFi issues, Coil whine) its primary use will be web browsing, word processing and maybe some light programming, I have a more powerful desktop for any CAD or Z-Brush stuff I will be doing. I also don't mind buying used/refurbished. Thanks

What I want

Smaller than 15"
Light Enough to carry everyday
1080p Matte IPS screen
Minimum 8GB memory
user upgradeable m.2 ssd/ nvme support - want to use Intel 600p 512gb

not deal breakers
backlit keyboard preferred
sd card reader preferred


deal breakers
core M processors or other ultra-low power and AMD processors
lower than 1080p
less than 8gb memory
above 14" / 2kg
touchscreen/2-in-1 not wanted

Notorious

As far as I am aware, the XPS aren't upgradeable. Unless you're hoping to do some light gaming, buying an XPS would seem like overkill especially if you've a desktop for any programs that require heavy processing power.