Buying an Engineering Computer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
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<p>I will be transferring to A&M into civil engineering in the spring. I'm looking for a new computer as well since my current one is just for normal use. Currently I have a Toshiba i3 that's 5.5lb and is 15.6 inches that gets decent battery life (4-6 hours). I have been researching a lot and know all about the BYOD. I hope to graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering and love design so I'm looking for a computer that will meet and excel the requirements to run Solidworks, 2D and 3D modeling, etc.</p>

<p>The 3 things I care about most are:</p>

<ol>
<li>Performance</li>
<li>Battery Life</li>
<li>Weight
(I would like to keep it under 2K for buying a refurbished one)</li>
</ol>

<p>The things that are important to me are:</p>

<p>i7 4th gen. quad core (the faster the better)
At least 16gb of ram
256 SSD with the option of adding more storage is possible
A graphics card that works really well with 3D modeling (nvidia K2100M, etc.)
Docking capability
1080p HD screen (doesn't have to be more that that)
Full size keyboard is a plus</p>

<p>Originally I was going to go with a Dell Latitude E7440 14" 16gb ram 256 SSD with W7P. This looks to be a great computer and is one of the ones suggested by A&M. It has an Intel i7-4600U 2.1GHz (3.3GHz turbo-boost, 4MB cache) CPU and Intel HD Graphics 4400. I have been looking at the refurbished ones and I can get one with 3 years of warranty for right around $1000. The thing I like about it is its only 4.5lb and has decent battery life (4-5 hours). However I would like something faster.</p>

<p>Right now I'm strongly looking at a Dell Precision M4800 15.6" 16gb (up to 32gb) of ram 256 SSD (more storage is possible to add) with W7P. It has an Intel Core 4th Generation i7-4810MQ Processor 2.80GHz(6M Cache, up to 3.80 GHz) and AMD FirePro M5100 w/2GB GDDR5 graphics card. I have been looking at the refurbished ones and I can get one with 3 years of warranty for right around $1400. I know its one of the fastest computers and is not cheap but the 2 main things I do not like about it is that its 6.5lb and only gets around 3 hours of battery like and has a huge 180 watt charger. I know these things are designed to run CAD and that's what I love about them.</p>

<p>I would like to stay away from a Macbook pro even though I know they have some nice specs as well and I love the battery life and weight. I love windows personally and do not want to have to fight to run certain programs.</p>

<p>I have also been looking at the Lenova W540P. They are very similar to the Dell M4800 so I think it really just comes down to preference. Although I believe they are a little lighter which is a plus.</p>

<p>I would rather stay away form the HP Z books.</p>

<p>Here is my dilemma, I would like to know which classes that I will be needing a computer to run certain powerful programs in engineering classes such as in civil and mechanical in class? I know they have labs but I would still like my own computer to do it on my own time and in case the computer labs are full. I will have a desk set up in my room with dual 24" monitors and a dock to work on HW and assignments at night. But I would also like to be able to work on stuff in the library or when I study in groups.</p>

<p>I'm also not opposed to a desktop. I can get some great specs and for a cheaper price but my only concern is if I will need to use my computer much (if at all) in class?</p>

<p>I appreciate y'all for reading all of this and if you have an advise or suggestions I would appreciate it!</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>@ilovemath987 TAMU Engineering requires that you buy one of three computers listed here: <a href=“http://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/byod/devices/2015-2016”>http://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/byod/devices/2015-2016&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@beaudreau I’m a transfer student so I’m not entering as a freshman, so the BYOD doesn’t apply to me. Any of the computers I’m planning on getting though will exceed the specs of the ones TAMU requires for incoming freshman so I should be fine there. Thanks for the suggestion though.</p>

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<p>Get a macbook pro. its the best for engineering. </p>

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<p>you may not like it, but its the best. plus you can dual boot windows onto it if you want, or even linux</p>

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<p>Thank you all for the replies. After looking into everything more I have decided to just build a desktop instead that should run everything I need like a charm. After its finished I will post the stats and info. For on campus I’ll just use my current laptop and the computer labs.</p>

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<p>@ilovemath987 I have stuck with a tower that I built for my office computer. I upgrade every two or three years at far less than the cost of a new computer. Plus, it’s tons of fun to decide on all the components, order them, build the computer, and hope that it works first time.</p>

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<p>@ilovemath987 You need a laptop for engineering becuase there are times you must bring it to class to run the software applications. And you will constantly be doing group projects which means meeting other students and working together on your laptops.</p>

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<p>@vs1997, students with MacBook Pros at A&M will have to go to campus for some assignments that can’t be completed on a Mac. A&M did not provide advice 3 years ago on what computer to buy for my son’s engineering major, so he got a MacBook Pro. He is generally happy with it, but it’s a pain sometimes when he has to use campus computers. Now A&M advises students on computers for engineering.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.xoticpc.com/”>http://www.xoticpc.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I recommend getting either an MSI, Sager, Lenovo, or ASUS. Lenovo has some awesome deals (the Y50 is pretty nice), but I recommend getting a GTX series graphics card, not one of the professional versions.</p>

<p>What you’re going to want (if you’re running dual 1080p monitors) is a more high output graphics card with more on-board memory. Additionally, there’s no reason to get more than 16GB of RAM. There is a diminishing return on additional RAM, and unless you’re running high resolution video rendering (2560x1440 or higher) I don’t think you’d see much benefit to additional RAM past 16GB. </p>

<p>I also think you’d be better off with a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. You can use the SSD as a boot drive and store your most used applications there and it would be much cheaper. However, you can get those after-market for much cheaper and it’s not too big of a deal. The other alternative would be to go with a bigger SSD and then constantly move files that you don’t need on your main drive to an external backup. However, this is a huge pain in the ass and can take a long time to do. Also, if you’re going to be hooking your laptop up to external displays, you may want to get an external keyboard and mouse. Most weaker graphics cards have trouble powering two 1080p monitors, and for many a third is not even an option. One other thing to consider would be a computer with switchable graphics cards. This allows you to save power when you aren’t running a high demand program and conserve your battery.</p>

<p>As a complete alternative, you can run a virtual PC on a MacBook and have a copy of Windows running as your main OS. I’d recommend going to a site like xoticpc though where you can find a decent base for a laptop and customize it with the specs that you need.</p>

<p>For a base, this is what I would go with:</p>

<p>i7 4xxx series MQ
nVidia GTX 8xx or 9xx series (or a high end 7xx series, like a 770M; preferably a 860M or 960M or better)
8GB RAM+
128GB SSD
1TB HDD
3-4 USB ports
At least 2 DVI/VGA ports and maybe an HDMI port</p>

<p>My last piece of advice would be to avoid Dell like the plague, unless you get a massive discount there. I’ve been pricing out laptops recently and Dell doesn’t even compete with other big companies. Feel free to PM me with any questions. I think you should consider one major thing when purchasing a laptop: if you want it to be fast, that takes away from the battery life. If you want it to be fast and have a good battery life, that takes away from the weight. If you want it to be light, fast, and have amazing battery life, you’re looking at a ridiculously expensive laptop that may or may not exist. Your best bet would be to find one where you can manage its performance semi-manually (switchable graphics cards and making sure to change it to “power saver” mode whenever possible as well as lowering the screen brightness) while still maintaining a semi-portable weight. I don’t think anything under 5 lbs will be reasonable if you want a dedicated graphics card, and I HIGHLY recommend you avoid Intel HD Graphics.</p>

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<p>More and more campuses have extensive ‘Help Desks’ or computer support outlets staffed by students who will know EXACTLY what will work best for your coursework. I definitely recommend contacting them.</p>

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<p>MSI and Sager are good powerful gaming computers that can also handle processor heavy programs such as CAD and other engineering programs</p>

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<p>Thank you very much for your input @micmatt513‌ </p>

<p>This is the current set-up I think I’m going to go with:</p>

<p>Intel i7 4790K 4.0 quad-core processor
MSI Z97 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 motherboard
16gb (2x8gb) DDR3-2133 G.Skill ram
120gb Samsung 840 EVO SSD
3 or 4 TB WD green hard drive
EVGA GeFprce GTX 750 Ti 2gb FTW ACX video card
450 Watt Corsair CSM power supply
W7P and office 2013P</p>

<p>I should be able to build this for right at $1000 and it should be able to run everything I need it to for the time being.</p>

<p>I talked to a few friends that have just graduated in MEEN this year that said they mainly used the MEEN lab for almost everything so I should be fine. I’m transferring in with 82 hours and I plan on graduating in 2017 so its not like I will be on the same track as most of the freshmen as far as following the track they have. I just have most of my junior and senior level classes in front of me right now.</p>

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<p>@ilovemath987 - The one thing I’d recommend is going with a slightly more powerful graphics card and slightly less hard drive space. 4TB is an insane amount of space; most people will never fill more than 1-1.5TB in their life.</p>

<p>Other than that though, it looks like a solid build overall. If there’s a microcenter by you, go there for there the processor/mobo (the processors are already cheap, ie. ~$270 for a 4790) and you get $60 off if you buy the mobo in combination with the processor. Good luck building it!</p>

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<p>@ilovemath987. I would go with a larger SSD and as @micmatt513 said, a smaller HD. SSDs are down in price enough so you can load your operating system and most of your programs on the SSD, where you can take advantage of the increased speed. Use the traditional HD for all your data and make sure that you invest in both local and cloud-based backup. I back up my data on both an external hard drive and on Carbonite. I also back up an image of my SSD every night, so I can quickly restore it if necessary.</p>

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<p>You can get a MacBook Pro and run Bootcamp. It’s quite easy, really.</p>

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@micmatt513 I actually just got back from the new micro center in Houston I went to after work today. I’m still looking into the graphics card a little more. The main reason why I’m considering that one is its cheap for now ($110) and it should do the things I need it to for now and I can always upgrade it a little later if I want to. I bought about half of the stuff tonight.

$40 (normally $120) Motherboard (I bought the combo with the Intel pentium processor for $90 after a $10 rebate and I plan on selling the processor on ebay for $50 or I might just keep it)

$90 (normally $115) 3 TB WD (slower 5400) green HHD (I can always make this an extra HHD later if I buy the faster one later. I do want a lot of storage mainly because I usually store about 5gb of pictures a week and about 5gb of video a week as well.)

$280 (normally $340) Intel i7 4790K processor (great deal at the micro center)

$16 cheap LG disk reader/writer

$45 (after $20 rebate) (normally $75) Thermaltake commander G42 case

Tonight I’m buying the power supply from Newegg for $27 (normally $100)

So I just need RAM, graphics card, a SSD and the other small stuff.

I am going to try to get a 256gb Samsung SSD if I can find one for not too expensive.

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@beaudreau Thank you for your suggestion. Yes, I plan on getting a 265 SSD if I can find a deal on one and I will definately be storing my operating system on there along with the modeling software programs and any other ones I use heavily. I have a WD 3 TB external drive that I back up important things on periodically. I have tons of pictures and videos that I store weekly so I don’t mind having the extra space, especially since there’s really no price difference between 1, 2, and 3 TB. Thanks again!