<p>what features should an engineer be looking at? for a cse or maybe mech e. I'll be doing autocad so i'll probably need a dedicated graphics card huh? i was thinking of buying a laptop and desktop instead of one expensive laptop. I'll just get a cheapo laptop and an alright desktop. Anyone reccomend a laptop. I hear good things from toshiba and ibm.</p>
<p>What does the school recommend? If you consider Dell, make sure you keep an eye on gotapex.com for the best discounts. Discountlaptops.com also has some good prices as well as info on who really makes laptops. You might also search for some of the laptop discussion forums.</p>
<p>get yourself a good IBM and I think you are SPOT ON in your planning on a desktop and a laptop. For your purposes, it is the right choice.</p>
<p>personally, I bought an IBM T23 off of a corporate lease and got a super deal (the stats almost equal a new cheapo laptop but the build quality is pure IBM). I installed linux on it and it is a great compliment to the desktop.</p>
<p>IBM has some cheaper models these days so its not as much of an investment as it used to be.</p>
<p>Definatly go with an ibm. If your going to ucsd they use autocad in there first graphics class and then solidworks in the design class. Just get a cheapo one, solidworks and autocad will work on almost any ok quality laptop. There are only two that solidworks and autocad recommend: Dell M60/70 and an ibm one. They both have a quadro 1000 which is the card solidworks needs to work with assemblies of more than 3 large parts. In reality though you will not work with anything larger than a regular laptop can handle. My recommnendation is goto soliworks.com and check there recommended video cards against your purchase choices.</p>
<p>It has been my experience that Solidworks hates laptops. </p>
<p>Visual Nastran hates laptops more, but Solidworks hates laptops a lot. Ohh, and Femlab? Femlab really hates laptops.</p>