I have a chance to buy one for my son’s school work, but am a little put off by reviews of the “older gen” i3 processers, low 8GB RAM and HDD in lieu of an SDD.

For schoolwork, powerpoint and internet research, is is really that bad or worth it as homework machine for a few years?

It’ll be fine. My 13 year old is using my old 11” MacBook Air from 2011 for her school work without issues.

I’d check what the school uses though. If it’s google classroom then a chrome book might be better. If it’s flipgrid then a windows box might be better.