Did I catch that right?

Two guys named J.D. are running in the Republican Senate primary in Ohio? Along with a third guy not named J.D. ?

Looking for recommendations & thoughts about my expectations:

Anything under $1500 is in my range, but you could convince me to stretch a little more.

Should I stay with Win 10 or bump to 11?
I want 8-16 ssd ram and 1tb ssd hard drive, is there any reason to stay with ddr hard drive?

Is there a reason I should stay with 500G hard drive? I can't go lower than that.
if both ram and hard drive are ssd, is there a preferable combo?

I can live without a cd drive by keeping old laptop around for copies I need to make for my car with cd drive.

I like Lenovo. Before I retired my last laptop that my employer had for me was a Lenovo.
Do I need to change my mind on that? Is anything else good/better?

I bought this HP in 2014 so I'm getting antsy for a new one...

Will look forward to all replies and your thoughts.