What is the purpose for this device? Do you need portability?
Are you fine with Mac OS or Windows? Any particular apps/requirements?
With laptops, I prefer 15" Macbook Pros and have used 4 of them in the past decade plus. Nowadays, even the lowest Macbook Airs have Retina screens. They are fantastic to look at and easy on the eyes with great colours. On the Windows side, the only laptop I'd consider is a Surface Laptop 3 given your price. Macs are my #1 choice when it comes to laptops.
I love the Surface Laptop/Book (3:2) and Macbooks (16:10) because of their aspect ratio. Given the smaller screen size (13-15") they operate at, their aspect ratios allow them to do be useful for actual work. Most laptops tend to be 16:9 which isn't great for productivity IMO unless you plan on just watching movies on them.
You can either build a PC from scratch with buying all the components, or get something like a Intel NUC and Mac Mini and simply add a screen. You'll need a decent monitor to match the ones that come with the Macs.
With the Intel NUC (4 inch x 4 inch footprint), you only need to buy storage (SSD) and RAM. It took me 5 minutes to install it. Everything is already built in and you don't have to worry about compatibility or assembly. Plug those in and then install your OS of choice. I chose to go with Windows 10 LTSC. It's the best version of W10 and just gets out of the way, no-nonsense feel like Mac OS. The OS installation took an hour at most. I have a NUC for Roon, Spotify, and media playback. I can't hear the fan whatsoever and it hides in the room consuming little electricity.