Ok so I realize this is a little early in the year for me but I will be an incoming freshman starting an engineering degree (I have yet to know where I am going). I am weighing whether to get a nice workstation laptop, i.e. a Dell Precision, Or an ultrabook with better battery life like . I already have a tower that I built a few summers ago and I run lots of CAD and other design software on it on a regular basis. I am confident that it will be able to handle anything that a engineering class will throw at it. I also have plenty of storage space so hard drive size is not an issue. My question is, would it be more beneficial to have an ultrabook that can handle some CAD, is slower but has a better battery life, or a mobile workstation that can handle anything thrown at it but is not that good on battery life?
Any recommendations on computer models or insights about computers in college would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Why not both?
A Lenovo Thinkpad should work really well. Some of the models get over 15 hours of batter life with a $5 extended battery, and the lower voltage (labeled U, such as i7-4600U) Haswell (and Broadwell) processors will be able to fill in for CAD when you’re not at your dorm.
I was thinking about that. I have heard some bad reviews on some lenovo products so avoided them. I’ll look into that now though. Thanks.
I have had good experiences with Lenovos personally, particularly their Thinkpad line (I had one in college back when it was still IBM; I gave it to my aunt and 6 years later it was still running, albeit slowly. Not sure what it’s doing now - it would be 11 years old so probably dead).
I don’t think you need a desktop, a power laptop and an ultrabook. Since you already have the desktop that can do CAD and anything else that an engineering curriculum would need, I think you should get the ultrabook. It’s nice to have something with long battery life for trips to the library or coffee shop when you are not near an outlet. You could just do any CAD work you have to do when you are at home, and do other work on the ultrabook.
@juillet
Same here, that was a great laptop. Ran well for over 7 years.
Also, don’t underestimate the amount of horsepower that some thin and light laptops are packing. They should be fine for doing a bit of CAD in a pinch, so long as it’s not a Core M or Y chip (very low voltage).
I was actually peeping the [Lenovo X1 Carbon](http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/) yesterday (for a friend who wants an ultrabook). A couple of people at my job use that as their ultraportable for meetings and such (they all also have desktops) and it’s super thin and light, but looks to be relatively powerful.
It’s a pretty good computer, but it is limited to 4 gigs of RAM, which is something to keep in mind.
I’d go for the ultrabook-desktop combination. I have a workstation laptop myself but it might as well be a desktop the way I use it. I carry a Chromebook to class.