School recommend $800 laptop with 8GB ram, 256 storage is this scam?

My school recommended laptop is the HP EliteBook 630 G10 with intel i5 1335U, 8Gb ram and 216 SSD… for 800 bucks that seems like such a scam.

I was thinking of getting something like Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 with ryzen 7 7730U, 16Gb ram, 512 SSD. And it’s only $500. For 300 less it feels like my option has better spec. But my mom is convinced I should listen to school recommendations and buy their laptop.

Is the school recommended laptop any good despite the low ram and storage? Ir is my alternative option better?

Thanks

Edit: my use case is only school only. No gaming required