Even if you are running a dev stack locally, you don’t need a very powerful machine for web development.

My recommendation is to get a machine with the best screen, keyboard, and touchpad you can find. Your budget rules out any MacBook, but there are plenty of Windows laptops that fit into it. I’d look at Lenovo’s ThinkPad series for great keyboards and pointing devices. Other manufacturers have good offerings too, but I’d go look at one in person at a store if I were you- they do tend to be hit and miss.

As a developer, I cannot stress enough how important a good screen and keyboard are. You can have the best specs possible, but if the keyboard is lousy you’re going to have a really bad time coding. If the screen can’t display enough code or isn’t bright enough, you’ll have the same problem.