Hi,
Some good advice so far!
It sounds as though you're a typical 'home user' with a spread of 'home use' for your computing needs.
You don't need to worry about Processor speeds etc as such, an i3 processor could/would suffice for you in this regard. A lot of laptops nowadays do come with an 'SSD' type hard drive and those are much 'faster' than mechanical drives, so that 'bottleneck' is all but gone now. A good amount of RAM, 4/8GB is the norm nowadays too. I'd go as far as to say a 'modest' i3, 128/256 GB hard drive, 4/8GB RAM' laptop is more than enough for most home users for 'home type' computing usage.
The 'trick' to keeping a Windows PC/Laptop working smoothly, reliably and well is to maintain the operating system. By this I mean using various free and moderately prices software tools to check and maintain, fix and repair where necessary on a regular basis. By doing this, you'll not have problems like you've mentioned. I know it's a 'little' extra effort in terms of use and also a 'modest' amount extra financially, but long term, it means you don't start thinking the way you currently are and spending £400-1500 on a new machine every 2-5 years!
Another good practice aspect is more drastic, and that is indeed to perform a clean re-installation of Windows. You'll need to backup all your important files and data (you do this already, right?!! ) and then do the re-install. Your computer then is back to how it was when new.
When it comes to hardware, then computers can and do go wrong and it is frustrating for sure. There's a league table of the worlds biggest computer/laptop manufacturers and who are the more reliable overall. I think HP are in the middle to lower range of the top 10 I think (I'm a bit vague).
I've been a Dell customer since 1998 and I'm now on my 4th laptop in all these years. I changed to a XPS 15 in late 2015 and it's running brilliantly still (haven't had to reinstall Windows yet but I'm thinking to in the next few months). I do some spreadsheet number crunching, some photo and (soon) video editing along with (soon) some CAD software. These types of programs do need good processing power under the hood as it were, so my machine is an i7 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB hard drive. Another 'spec' to look for when it comes to more intense use is the capabilities of the Graphics card, many machines nowadays 'share' the processing power between the main processor and the graphics one and again, this setup is fine for 'most' users out there. You'll want to split this if you were big into 'Gaming' which can require some serious processing power.
In short, if you look at a decent spec i3/i5 based machine, with as much RAM as possible and a decent 2/4 GB graphics card spec, then don't worry 'too much' about storage as external hard disks/USB sticks/Secure Digital storage is easily added.
Nip into PC World and have a look and quick feel of various laptops to see how the keyboard feels, how the display looks like for you and the overall size you'll need. There'll be a short list of machines for you from various brands. Just keep in mind to install good Internet Security software and utilities like 'Crap Cleaner' (you'll see it as CCleaner), Malwarebytes and update those and run them often to keep your machine as clean as possible and you should see much less issues/problems with how your machine runs long term. I know there's a few other utilities as well not just the ones I mention above.
For a more 'Plain English' view of home computing, take a look at the 'Computer Active' magazine that comes out every 2 weeks as they have many excellent features and advice for users who aren't so 'technical' and they explain things very well. The website has lots of advice, a forum and a searchable section for reviews and what and how to maintain your PC well etc, it's worth bookmarking and for use in looking at in case some issues to pop up etc.
Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!