Anybody got any suggestions for something that would work for OP? Within budget ($800) and "reliable, fast and easy to use ".
“Ultimately looking to use it for art and graphic design, like photoshop and things of that nature… and possibly gaming, as I’m interested in learning about/how to play in VR (once I learn more about computers)”.
The closest, safest and best I can suggest is listed above. Surely some of you can beat my suggestions??? I can handle that.
LOL 
I think pretty soon one of them will either take pity on you and some up with a better suggestion than I could, or do it just to show me how much they hate Apple. You might get something useful out of this yet.
I’m truly not currently “tech savvy”. BUT my machine does what i need for the things I want to do. That really is all you need.
OMG I love it! I haven’t seen these commercials in FOREVER!! They lied LOL… finding a computer is not as easy as Dell… it’s hell!! 
For Peter’s sake, dude… I am getting some major condescending tones that are out of line here.
I’ve been in a series of meetings for work, and deeply apologize for not having a snappy reply to your posts.
Let’s address that first. You are wrong. This isn’t a situation where “oh geeze, toe-may-toe/toe-mah-toe” applies. Calling all non-apple machines “Android” is absolutely wrong, and honestly this is the first time of my daily interactions with people up and down the tech scale that someone claimed that and is sticking to it.
Android is an operating system that primarily works on mobile devices with a small segment on chromebooks. PC - as in personal computers - would be the term for non apple machines, and of that the bulk are windows base with a small subsection for linux.
Full stop. That’s it.
Waving off the misnaming like a dilatant is not appropriate or even done.
I specifically avoided doing this when I was giving key benchmarks to look for as I have zero idea where the OP plans on buying their machine, or have information on even if they want it mobile or not. Buying it on woot is different than craiglist is different than best buy is different than an on base commissary is different than amazon is different than aliexpress.
By providing the high points the OP can look at their purchasing areas and get a feel for what is available to them where they are comfortable in buying them. This is opposed to having them blindly locked into X specific models out of the myriad of makes models for pricing out there.
It empowers the OP to take the reins of their choices to best fit their financial situation, their usage scenarios, and their comfortable purchase points without locking them into trying to hunt down a narrow list makes and numbers that may wildly be out of their bounds.
Ultimately stick with known brands. HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, IBM, Sony, Acer, Dell, and Asus are the most common seen and encountered. Any unknown brands would be taken with heavy bags of salt.
Yeah, we get it, you like Macs.
See above.
One thing I did miss addressing was the VR.
For the most part you have two options. One get a stand alone set like an Oculus Rift, and/or two make sure you pickup a desktop or laptop that says ‘VR ready’. VR ready would, mostly, have the required ports for the setup and have a ton of video ram to help.
Example of ‘VR Ready’ laptops and what that means.
I had absolutely no intention of condescending, and am sorry my comments seemed that way.
Regarding my usage of PC & Android, I need to supply some perspective. In 1964 I first was paid to be a programmer. Mainframe with Fortran and Cobol. It was not until 1982 that I was briefly assigned to a project involving Apples. At that time they and the other brands were collectively referred to as “personal computers”. I’m not sure when there was a shift to separate Apples from other brands, and sometimes group those as “PCs”.
At the office there was an earlier 46# personal computer of a brand I don’t recall I occasionally lugged home to continue some work.
In 1987 I bought my first Apple - a home dial-up machine. I’ve been buying a new home machine every 5-8 years since. My purchase trigger is when the old machine won’t do TurboTax. Each time I have to re-study up on tech specs to decide which model. It is difficult enough for me that I REALLY had sympathy for OP with a much older gift machine and apparently never having actually been in the profession. I stick with Apples because I know they will do what I want. There are other wonderful machines out there, but I’d have to do a huge amount of research among them to make sure I got it even close to right. And then, in addition to the over-time changes, I’d have to learn the brand-feature differences.
I’ve been retired for a little over 25 years so no longer have a work world/professional perspective. At the time I was truly in the profession, I probably used the proper terms for things then. Today, my current Apple is just an amazing little machine that serves personal purposes - getting BOCs, emailing, banking and bills, travel arranging, finding recipes, general research, etc. And other than mentioning gaming and VR, I thought her probable usage might be similar to mine. Then for those two uses she will need to learn a whole lot/get a whole lot of help before she knows what to buy.
At my age and computer usage, “dilettante” is probably even a compliment rather than an insult. I’m really not conversant with proper technical terms, and normally have no need to do so.
You do provide OP with a bunch of genuinely useful information. Your list was what triggered me to go back and check the Apple models I had mentioned to make sure they met your criteria, at least on the one point I was sure I would get right.
She well might get a more powerful machine for her $800 with a non-Apple but will need a guide or lots of luck, or a whole lot of studying. I couldn’t do that for her, but just wanted to supply the info of which I was sure. And Apple was it from me.
Your link to the VR article plus the point about maybe keeping that stand-alone should be useful for her.
Known brands for sure, although if I’d made the list I wouldn’t have known to add Acer and Asus as I’m not familiar with them. Another reason why I really was only able to suggest within my knowledge/experience area.
I’ve a son who was deeply enough into the profession to buy from Craigslist, but that and Woot! and similar are clearly not for regular people. We are in concurrence there. My point with a refurbished Apple from the manufacturer was that the source removed some of the risk, and I could attest to the success of my and my family’s experience. Again, we agree.
On meh.com a person posted a question similar to yours (right side of the first page - “…laptops…”. Starting to be some discussion there.
It crossed my mind that you might be the poster, but am mentioning it assuming you are not and might find it interesting. Rather different culture on the site. But definitely tech people there also.
@Wooter626442982 Just saw that QVC has a value of the day for a laptop today 03/21/21 . HP 15" Touch Laptop Intel i5 8GB RAM 512GB SSD, so it meets some of the specs @modi123 mentioned, not sure about the video part, but it IS in your budget and HP makes a good laptop, IMHO. When I saw the video it said 11th generation i5, and has something new for graphics, but since it’s new I can’t say what the new graphics card means. They do mention it being good for gamers. It does have a touch screen, if you want. Just a suggestion from an average computer user.
First I just want to say thank you to everyone for the pointers! I’ve been doing as much browsing as my phone’s 3gb memory will allow
Anyway… I just realized that my laptop has a SD/MMC slot… I’m thinking of maybe purchasing a card and giving it a try 
I mean… hey! I was able to install Windows 10 back in like 2019(?) so maybe that’s what lil “Wall•E” needs? 
lol. It’s an HP 2000 Notebook PC 3GB RAM, 64-bit OS, dual core and AMD E-300 with Radeon HD 631 - if that helps? It’s a great machine and it would be awesome if I was able to save it by adding memory or whatever it is that it needs… Then, I’d purchase a home computer.
As far as OS… I like Apple, a lot actually… I’m just not familiar with how they work (like… at all) as the only devices/electronics I’ve ever owned have been Android. I can’t say I haven’t been thinking about trying to switch though, especially now after the recent data breach Microsoft was hit with.
If you are talking about a SD card slot no, unfortunately all that may give you is a wee bit more storage space but no upgrade performance in speed like RAM or a processor.
If you are a subscriber to Consumer Reports (or have a friend who is), they periodically have articles on both laptops and desktops. Also they have on-line very thorough reviews where you can select for features and sort and such.
Woot! 2982- sadly I have nothing to contribute to your computer search. Oh, I am barely functional on computers, but I would think that gaming could require a desktop. You will use a distinct mouse, headset with microphone, etc so a laptop would have some restrictions and you want to maintain your posture. I would guess VR might be safer on a desktop. No having VR on and deciding to walk with it, LOL! Consumer Reports is a good suggestion. You could access them through friend, or in the way back- the library had them. You also used to be able to buy a report on a specific brand online. Just a few thoughts. @romellex and @modi123 Modi have had solid advice, I actually understood some of it.The search appears daunting, but once you’re on the scent it will be worthwhile. Good luck!
Ordinarily I wouldn’t think so, but the size of the slot is approximately ¼cm × 1in… it almost looks like it was made for a battery from an old (2006) flip phone 
If your still looking for a computer I would suggest the fairly new gateway creator series, link below, it has a 2060 RTX with upgradable ram and SSD all for $799, it’s exclusive to Walmart but the price can be lower if you know someone who works there. A buddy of mine was able to get one for about $780 with his discount and taxes paid. It’s the best bang for your buck and even though it is a gateway computer, it is able to perform on the same level of $1,100 plus laptops. It just doesn’t look as flashy as those but for a reliable good gaming/creator/work computer under $800, this might be your best bet. Hope this helps and Goodluck!
There’s a new product showing up this summer that you might want to consider. It’s supposedly easier for the average person to upgrade so you don’t have to trash it every few years like most of our tech. Pricing and specs are still TBD.
An Easy-to-Repair Modular Laptop Is Launching This Summer
leaning towards skepticism that this will ever become more than something for hobbyists. laptops are already relatively cheep. initial cost has got to be something close to what’s on the market already; the parts are similar. sure, there are always going to be diy-ers who like to tinker and stuff, but imo most peepuls take their car into the shop for some1 else to work on, even tho it’d b cheeper in the long run to do it themselves.
I can’t explain why, but this reminds me of hit clips.
Hmmm… I think I resemble that remark!
And that is what keeps my kind in business 
That was a completely new one to me too! That;s like saying that there are Ferraris and v6’s.
Interesting, That;s the one thing I’ve always hated about laptops versus desktops. I’ve built and upgraded desktops since the 80’s, but laptops have always been prepackaged - you get what you buy and that’s it.
To the OP, I was just wondering if you ever decided on a computer?
Yeah, I’m skeptical myself. Not sure how they can produce parts for as much as or cheaper than what’s currently being produced today but I do feel our electronics waste is getting out of control. I predict it’s gonna look like that craphole Wall-E had to live in sooner than later.
imma definitely not an expert, but maybe the other posters can comment on this one
https://www.newegg.com/graphite-gray-lenovo-81ym0002us/p/1TS-000E-0JFR8
