Setting up pihole or using a similar DNS based blockage of unwanted content is also really great. Some vpns will have this as an option which can make it easy. Doesn’t necessarily protect you from all malicious stuff but it is very effective on dealing with ads and whatnot. Plus dealing with all of that on mobile devices can range from impossible to very difficult
If you don’t care as much about the specific brand and want to shop deals I would look at laptop deal history on slickdeals and keep an eye on the posts there after nailing down what you think is a good sale price.