Initially, building a desktop PC appeared to be a cost-effective option. However, after accounting for additional expenses such as a UPS (due to frequent power outages), a monitor, and other peripherals, a laptop proves to be a better value in my situation.

Earlier I had i5 7th generation laptop with 16GB RAM. It would start to cry whenever I put more than three virtual machines. The host OS was windows 10 and guest OS was rocky linux minimal inside Hyper-V/Virtualbox. And I would like to keep it that way.

Thus I will require 32GB RAM.

And a solid processor should be non-negotiable. But I am not sure about which processor would be most value for money? i.e. give me highest ROI for the least amount of leap in budget? Budget is 500 dollars. (Which would amount to twice expensive in Nepal that is why. I mean 500$=70K NPR but when that product comes to Nepal with taxes, it will become more than 100K NPR)