For someone who wants to do nothing more than check their email and manage online banking, no specs matter

Almost no one uses their PCs that way. They will, at bare minimum, have a couple of applications, and several webpages open, and that's enough to cause problems on a modern system with 8GB RAM. I have lived this experience too many times with friends and family members who complain that their computer is too slow, and the only solution I can offer them is to buy a new one, because their current one was intentionally crippled to create a price ladder, and intentionally designed so that they couldn't fix it.

Repairing broken hinges on such a cheap laptop practically has to be a DIY repair.

It does. But it ain't hard. Anyone with a screwdriver can do it.