Best size laptop for engineering major

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>First off, I'm going to college in a year (in my senior year of high school right now), and am not going to buy anything immediately, so specific models aren't a concern. (I can decide those easily enough myself when I need to. Besides, I'm interested in the Haswell Thinkpads and what the rMBP update will bring, and none of those have been released yet.) That said, I might by a new laptop before I go to college anyway. (If only because my desktop will probably die at some point - I've had issues with the traces on the motherboard before - and I'm not sure if I want to buy a new motherboard for something I'm about to replace even if it's relatively cheap.)</p>

<p>So, the question is - for those of you in engineering majors, what's the best size of laptop to get? I generally like 13-14" for weight and general usage (I have an 11" netbook, and that's too small), and feel that 15" is a bit on the large and bulky side. On the other hand, I can also get a higher screen res screen on a 15" laptop without looking at minuscule text. (Note that I'm talking about 1080p or better on 15" - 1366x768 is not an option on any laptop here, end of story.) I can deal with 1920x1080 on a 13" laptop, but it's a bit smaller than I'd like without DPI scaling. (1600x900 or equivalent with scaling is best.)</p>

<p>Finally, what do you guys feel about Macs? (Particularly the rMBPs. I will note that the non-native scaling options are blurrier than I remember though, and 2:1 doesn't offer enough space for me - though I'm hopeful that they'll increase it when they update those.) I realize that they're not necessarily the best for engineering software, and the hardware is more limited (the limited hardware set is my main concern actually), but I'm fed up with the crap Microsoft's been pulling lately. Linux doesn't look like the best of options either. (particularly with high-DPI displays)</p>

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<p>You should be fine with a rMBP, a nice compromise between 13" and 15" might be going with a 13" & a larger Monitor.</p>

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<p>I’m doing Engineering and 15" isn’t really large at all (at least imo. I’m an average size person though). </p>

<p>Macbooks I really can’t comment on.</p>

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<p>I already have a 25" 1080p monitor that I don’t mind bringing, but how much studying can you actually get done in a dorm? (Particularly the cramped ones I’ve seen at UCs and CSUs…) I’d love to have a Nexus 7 that also has HDMI-in (since the screen extender apps out there don’t work particularly well), but I have yet to see anything even remotely close to this.</p>

<p>I think 13" would be good in class, but what about when studying and working on things in the library? I can’t bring a monitor there. Is theft much of an issue either?</p>

<p>I’m a fairly average-height male, and certainly can carry around a 15" laptop - it’s just bigger than I’d like in general.</p>

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<p>If you think you would prefer a 13" then you should go for it.</p>

<p>For me I get most of my studying in the dorm but if I was on another floor or dorm I probably wouldn’t be since the noise would be much louder.
if you have a TV can you use that as a monitor?</p>

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<p>Screen space is my main concern with a 13" laptop though, particularly if I’m doing everything on the laptop and don’t have an external monitor nearby (such as when I’m not in a dorm).</p>

<p>Keep in mind that some of the dorms I’ve seen are really cramped - sometimes 3 or more people in a dorm meant for 2 - and they’re dark. I can’t imagine doing much in those. What’s to say that you won’t get annoying roommates as well? (probably more of an issue freshmen year though)</p>

<p>I’m pretty sure I won’t have a TV - I rarely watch TV as it as at home, and I tend to watch things through my PC anyway when I do so. (I don’t own a TV of my own - there’s only one family TV - and I have no desire to get one.) Like I said, I already have a monitor that I can bring (currently used with my desktop, but I’ll be getting rid of the desktop at some point).</p>

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<p>Try going to Best Buy or something and just seeing how each of the screen sizes feel.
It’s also surprising how your workflow naturally adapts to what you have (though this works best going from small to large…). I started college with a 9" netbook and did perfectly fine with that for the first semester, screen-wise. I then got a 17" laptop because the single-core 1.7 GHz processor on the netbook wasn’t cutting it. I only got the 17" because it was on sale cheaper than the 15". It felt huge compared to my netbook and normally stayed in my room (which is also where I did most of my studying, but it was a single room). I also use 2 30" high-res monitors at work.
What definitely helps make use of limited workspace is having a good desktop environment that doesn’t get in the way or take up too much screen real estate. If you’re using Windows you’re kind of stuck on that front, but there are a lot of good ones for linux, and you can find one that works best for you.
If I were doing this now, I’d go for a 14" thinkpad and external monitor.</p>

<p>As for Macs - not worth the money, in my opinion. Excluding design shininess, you get more for your money with a thinkpad, and they’re solid machines.</p>

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<p>I’d suggest you consider what my kids both ended up swapping their respective laptops for–a netbook + a desktop. This gave them the best of both worlds–portability and the dual screen desktop so they can see while they worked, especially with mulitiple windows opened.</p>

<p>As I mentioned, both started with very high end laptops, both of which broke and were not repairable after 1.5-2.5 years. The netbook + desktop has been working well and they were tired of lugging the bigger, heavier laptop and really liked the netbook, especially for travel.</p>

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<p>Depending on the type of notes, you might also consider a tablet. Most of my notes are writing on powerpoint slides, so when I won an iPad mini I started using that for class instead of my netbook. For me a desktop wasn’t an ideal option since I go to school 1200 miles from home. I wanted to be able to take my computer home with me on breaks and not have to figure out what on earth to do with it in the summer.</p>

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<p>It depends on what you’re studying though. For one, I’m getting a bit tired of having a stationary desktop (though I like how upgradeable it is). I’m not sure how much I’ll be in the dorm room anyway. Second, I don’t know how far I’ll be from home - several of the colleges I’m looking at are closer than 100mi away (San Jose and Davis, for example), but some are around 500-600 miles away or more (like Oregon State).</p>

<p>Also, I have an 11" 1366x768 netbook (Thinkpad x120e) as a secondary machine right now, and while I’m planning to keep it, the screen res drives me up the wall if I want to do too much on it. I’d much rather carry around a 13" laptop - not much heavier if any, and the screen size increase is nice. I like Thinkpads (along with their upgradeability and build quality), and don’t care about the shiny factor. I’m looking into Macs because I prefer OS X’s interface in some ways, and because I’m not a fan of the Windows 8.x design.</p>

<p>I’m not exactly what kind of system would be good for the programs I’ll need to run in EE.</p>

<p>I’ll probably get a Nexus 7 at some point - I skipped out on the current generation for now (not sure if I want to buy something now that’ll really be used a year from now if it’ll become outdated quickly). I’m not sure how good that would be for notes though, and most tablets don’t have wacom digitizers or the like (I’ve tried capacitive styluses - those don’t work well).</p>

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<p>For engineering (I’m assuming EE means electrical engineering.) There are many students here who use a mac even though the recommended is PC. I rarely see anyone here using tablets though so I can’t really comment on that. </p>

<p>Assuming all dorm are basically cramp, you will still have some amount of room (it feel like there is way more space now that I’m used to everything.) I find it hard to stay stationary in the room. I go from being in my bungee chair to climbing bed to going somewhere else in the building with my laptop so there is definitely a huge mobility factor for me.</p>

<p>Thinkpads I think are one of the best PC out there. My only regret for not getting it is that they didn’t have touchscreen. I considered getting a desktop but it’s was a little too immobile so I just went for a laptop since I know I want to take it to class. Being at 15", it not really that heavy (the 17" version is only like .5 pounds heavier) but 13" does have that lightweight factor. But I didn’t get it because of the small screen size and I’d be flying and dropping that thing all over the place. Now looking back, it would had been nice because some of the desk size (yes this include the big lecture halls) were abnormally small. </p>

<p>There is really no “best size”, just find the size that fit you the most which I’m guessing would be 13".</p>

<p>By the way had you tried windows 8? I had my doubt about it after hearing all the negatives but I found that there wasn’t really anything wrong with it, it’s just different.</p>

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<p>True, both of my kids had moved to apts where they had more space for their desk and monitors by the time their laptops broke and they switched to desktops with two monitors and netbook. Dorm rooms do tend to be small and my kids weren’t used to sharing such a small space.</p>

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<p>My friend’s 15" T61 is definitely heavier than I’d want to carry around - somewhere on the order of 6 pounds I think. On the other hand, the 15" rMBP (just as an example) is around 4.5 lbs as I recall - still a moderately big machine in a backpack, but the weight isn’t bad.</p>

<p>I’ve been in those kinds of lecture halls before, and it looked like a 13" laptop would fit fairly well, while a 15" one would be a bit unwieldy. I know I want to take a computer to class (not for classes where I need to write equations or draw things though, like math equations or a schematic) - those should be much more efficient for subjects where I need to write a lot than writing by hand for me.</p>

<p>I’ve seen several dorms on college tours as well - nothing special, to be sure. (unless you’re talking about the new ones at UW - those are exceptionally nice, and not just by dorm standards)</p>

<p>I’ve tried 8 - I’m not a fan of the way they laid things out, but 8.1 helps - I’ve been dual-booting the beta with 7 on my netbook, and I don’t think I’ve booted into 7 for several months now. (Now that I think about it, I still haven’t loaded Office onto 8.1 either - I downloaded LO because that was faster, and haven’t actually needed Office yet. That is a secondary machine though.) They improved the DPI scaling in 8.1, but it’s still not optimal with multiple monitors of different DPIs - I’m a bit worried about that, and OS X does work a bit more smoothly in that regard. (though it’s a matter of 1X, 2X, or non-native unfortunately - and I can definitely tell)</p>

<p>@HImom Just wondering - what laptops did they have? I have very little to no interest in most cheap consumer laptops - it’s business laptops or premium consumer machines for me. I’ll pay extra for quality here.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I’m researching something for a class right now, and have 2 things side-by-side (web browser and a document) - this fits comfortably on my 1080p monitor. (which I will likely bring to college) I’ve tried this on 1600x900 before and it works, though not as comfortably. I can fit more in if I make the text smaller, but I’m not sure if I want that on 13". I could deal with it though. This is where the bigger size might come in handy. (That said, the fact that it won’t fit in a backpack or on a lecture hall desk as well, combined with the fact that hiDPI models probably cost more, is making me think about getting a 13" laptop.)</p>

<p>Just for the sake of mentioning it, I’m looking at hiDPI machines (definitely waiting for those), possibly with touch. (I wouldn’t mind having it, but it’s not absolutely crucial.) Whatever I get will have an SSD, or a 2.5" drive slot (which I will promptly put an SSD in). The Yoga 13 in particular piques my interest - I generally like the current model, though I don’t care one bit about the special hinge. (looks like the ativ book 9 is limited to 4GB RAM, period - that’s a dealbreaker - though the 2560x1440 ASUS is a consideration as well)</p>

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<p>Both of them got top of the line laptops. S got a Visio and D got a HP that allowed you to turn it into a Wacom tablet. Both started having problems from about 6 months that worsened until both had to get a total refund because they would have cost more to repair than original price. D also lost all her data as her hard drive literally fried!</p>

<p>They both loved having their netbooks, but after those died, I think they’ve both returned to laptops again, now that they’re no longer students.</p>

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<p>Backups, backups, backups! I use Dropbox and also an external harddrive to keep all of my data backed up and synced. I don’t want another… incident. It also helps you in the case of accidentally deleting something. Definitely worth the investment of $50-75 to get a hard drive for backup.</p>

<p>I tried using Windows 8 at a Microsoft store, and it just felt like a mess. They added that tile screen but still sort of kept the desktop, but I couldn’t figure out where anything was or how to switch between and use the different interfaces. Plus that flip stand on the Surface pinched me hard enough to draw blood. I’ve never liked Microsoft. Apparently it doesn’t like me, either.</p>

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<p>Were those consumer laptops?</p>

<p>As for backups, I keep my school files synced to Dropbox, and backup to an external hard drive on a weekly basis. I know, never keep only one copy of a file. I might get a 2.5" external them though - not sure if a 3.5" one would be best. (Though I can stick the 2TB drive from it in a USB 3.0 enclosure easily enough.)</p>