Computers and ENG

Student Lounge College Life
1

Two simple questions

  1. Should I wait until I know which college I'm going to to buy a laptop (for student deals, specific programs, etc.)? My current computer is starting to crap out on me, and the fan broke so it overheats quickly. Could I buy one now, and add things later?
  2. For engineering, what are general stats that should be sought out? Is it best to just buy the most powerful comp you can? Would gaming laptops be fine, or is it just silly to put money into something like that? I really am not too experienced with computers, so any advice/tips are good.
2

If you have a functional computer at this point, it might be better to wait. If it’s going to totally die on you before you head to school, start looking now and keep your eyes open for a good deal. It wouldn’t be fun to start school with no computer at all.

You won’t need a state-of-the-at gaming rig. There will be some more spec-ihtesive programs you will probably use in engineering like solidworks, but you’ll probably use lab computers for that instead of buying the ridiculously expensive software yourself. So any moderately species laptop should be good. Look for something with a long battery life and at least an i5 processor. I’d stick to hard drives at this point rather than solid state drives when Iit comes to storage; SSDs just don’t have a large capacity at this point and cost a lot more. If you want something durable, my go-to suggestion is always Lenovo Thinkpads. I have a T440p and I really like it.