Thanks!
Wow, it is so hard to find a good laptop! I really love the HP Spectre x360 and the Dell XPS 13 9360. I would prefer the Spextre x360 over the XPS though because of its extra futures, 2 in 1 ability, and it is slightly cheaper. The only thing holding me back from the Spectre is that there have been a lot of issues with loud fan noise and hot temperatures.
Listen to @10s4life. Get something light.
I agonized about this when my son started. Now he’s a ME Masters Candidate. I bought him a true workstation laptop. It has a quad core i7, with quadro 2100 graphics card, 1T SSD and 16g of RAM. It is a tank and it has poor battery life, so he lugs the transformer. It is a performance beast, but heavy lifting is best on desktops. He told me recently if he had it all to do over, he’d have chosen a MacBook Pro.
For what you need, LOTS of computers will be fine, probably even the one you already own. Don’t sweat it.
@eyemgh Echoing that, I even think my retina MacBook Pro is too heavy sometimes. I would get the new “MacBook” if I could redo things. Every ounce matters at cal and Ucla where the campuses are very heavy on walking. You’ll thank yourself for going as light as possible when you’re running late for your 8am 
For the bang for the buck I would go with some version of the Dell XPS, even though I am an Apple shareholder 
Im not really into Macbooks, but Dell XPS is pretty good.
Would the Dell Inspiron be better, since it is cheaper (only a little heavier) than the XPS, or is XPS more value?
My D is a mechanical engineering major, and we gave her a 13" Macbook pro when she started college. She said it was good for most things, but can’t run the programs she uses for her Formula race team, so if she could do it all over again, she would go with with the Dell. Lighter is definitely better.
So an Dell XPS 13 i7, 8gb, 256gb SSD is good enough for engineering, despite a lack of dedicated graphic card?
Also anyone have info about Dell Inspiron 13 with same specs?
It seems like the cheaper slighlty heavier version of XPS, so is it still good?
bump
You can also look into the new Huawe Matebook X Pro - I’ve seen it hyped for a while and it seems to be a very impressive machine.
Thanks everyone
I went with the XPS 13 and there was a great deal on costco.
@SREE33 How is the dell XPS 13 treating you. I’m also in a dilemma as I’ve been using a macbook air for the past 5 years but it’s gotten sluggish recently and I need a new laptop for college. I’m gonna be doing computer engineering and I am currently deciding between the Macbook Pro 13 with touchbar (low specs) or the Dell XPS 15 (high specs) and although Dell XPS is the better value for money I don’t know which one would last longer and be better fo my needs. Any help guys?
With the growing technology in laptop market, we can now find a good powerful laptop with sleek and lightweight design. Some of the options you can look for instead of MacBooks are new Dell XPS 15 7590, Razer Blade 15, MSI Stealth Thin, etc…
These machines will deliver great power along with running for more hours. You can easily carry it anywhere due to their thin designs.
Reference: https://mylaptopguide.com/best-laptops-for-college-students/