At the $500 range with the i5-8 model you're getting a pretty decent CPU capable of handling any basic or multiple tasks at once, 8GB of RAM which easily handles things like many tabs in Google Chrome, and an 256GB SSD that makes everything more quick and snappy(boot times and opening programs). Gaming wise it won't handle recent games but i'd say it could handle games at least pre 2015. Old games like Half-life 2 will easily get 100FPS+ and CS:GO can get around 40-50fps with tweaking.  The screen is a non touch, 1080p IPS display with pretty good viewing angles. The only problem with the screen is that by default it is too dim, an improvement workaround is having to go deep into the settings and tweak the gamma. Speakers are ok but would recommend headphones. Touchpad is Windows precision which is good. Backlit keyboard feels higher quality. Another minor issue is there's no SD/micro SD slot, it has 3 USB slots and 1 USB C. Overall a great package for this price range, if you're looking for a bit more power and dedicated graphics there's the i5-10 model for $100 or so more.