I would recommend taking a look in the second hand market. You’ll find great deals there.
As for the device itself, I think a Lenovo Thinkpad would be the best option for your needs.
I personally use a $200 Thinkpad T480 i found on eBay. Has 8th gen i5 processor, 16 GB memory, and 256 GB storage on an SSD.
https://youtu.be/2WhoIu9b1Gw