The Engineering Laptop Question

TL;DR: What laptop should I get as an ME major?

I’m beginning my search for the best laptop for college and would love any input any of you have.

I know some of the basic requirements (minimums) are the following: 8GB RAM; 500GB SSD Drive; 1080p resolution; intel i5; dedicated graphics card; 13-15in; 9 hr battery life

I’m looking for an easily portable laptop (or equivelent, like a 2in1 or tablet) that can handle any and all programs I’ll be using for all four years. Budget is not really an issue because I got a full-ride plus some for this, like I can go up to $3500. I’m definitely sticking with Windows (so no Macs) and would love a 2in1 with touch screen and pen that I can use to take notes on. I was looking into maybe getting a 2in1 with a separate larger monitor to plug it into as a home base if the screen is too small. I currently have a Lenovo Ideacentre desktop that I can either bring or give to my younger brother. If I were to bring it I may just get a small Surface to use in class and do all my intensive work on the desktop.

I’ll be doing some minor gaming on it every now and then as well, like Cities Skylines or Planet Coaster, so that may be a factor.

I was looking into the Surface Book with Performance Base the Dell XPS series, and a few others, but your suggestions can be anything that you feel would best suit a mechanical engineering student.

Thank you all!!

Why do you consider those the minimum requirements? I see no reason why a laptop.should ever have a discrete graphics card, for example. It adds weight and heat and kills battery life.

If I was in your situation, I’d get a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga. In fact, that’s almost what I currently use (I have the X1 Carbon).

Based on my two kids recent experience as ME students you dont need a big powerful laptop. My son had one and it never left his apartment. So all became was an expensive desktop machine once you added a monitor, a keyboard and mouse and external hard drives.

Many schools have computer labs with all the necessary software on them and this also makes for collaboration between students. My daughter had her desktop machine in her room and then had a light weight notebook to write her reports on.

I’d keep your current PC and get that light weight laptop and save the rest of the money for desktop upgrades.

@boneh3ad those are the specs if I were to use it as a desktop replacement. I read in a few places that the discrete graphics card is necessary for CAD software. If I were to bring my desktop, then those aren’t necessary. I completely forgot about Lenovo! The X1 Yoga seems to be exactly what I’m looking for at a lower price than most. Thank you!

@HPuck35 thank you for the help! I think I’m going to end up bringing the desktop and a lightweight laptop to bring to class. Lenovo is looking like the way to go.

It really depends on the application when it comes to CAD. For years I’ve harped on not worrying about CAD on a laptop because it’s largely awful and unnecessary just from an ergonomics standpoint, let alone a power standpoint. That said, these days even a modern integrated CPU (at least in Intel chips) can handle light CAD duty. Just don’t expect to be running complicated, hundred-part assemblies with movement.

Get something portable that you like and feel comfortable using. That’s really what you should think about. If you need heavy computation or CAD duty, use the computer lab or buy a separate desktop for a fraction of the price.

We (my husband) are currently looking for my daughter. She wants the 2in1 functionality as well and began looking at the Surface. Unfortunately, the personal reviews from friends on the surface are poor durability. As in one person has broken 3, and no he isn’t just careless. Durability is a major factor for us. We are looking into the gram(?). Will have to look into the Lenovo.

Does the Lenovo have a pen/stylus?
We were going for the Hp Spectre x360 because we thought it was the only one other than the Surface that has the pen, touch screen, and 2in1.

If you want to run macOS, get a MacBook Pro. If you want to run Windows, get a MacBook Pro. If you want to run Linux, get a MacBook Pro. 15" MBP has both a discrete GPU & onboard intel graphics. Macs have a significantly longer useful lifespan than commodity Windows gear, thus a lower cost of ownership.

@nw2this it does. This is a review I found for the pen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PVjrzc-xk

They also have a comparison between the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga and the Surface Book.

My son has a BA laptop with 32 gigs of RAM, 1T SSD HD, i7, and a Quadro. It’s 3 years old and still very powerful. What it also has is a bunch of weight. What you’ll never find in a machine like that is battery life of any sort, so he always has his transformer, which adds more weight. It has served him well, but he’ll never have another. He’ll have a BA desk top, for less money and easier upgradeability, and a light laptop. Do as @boneh3ad and @HPuck35 recommended. Don’t overbuy a laptop.

@Tw1ssT That is some patently terrible advice. Unless you want to run macOS, there is absolutely no reason to ever pay a premium for Apple hardware. Ever. And the cost of ownership is absolutely not lower than a business-class machine from other manufacturers. My previous ThinkPad lasted me 8+ years before I replaced it, not because it didn’t work anymore, but because it was simply too slow to keep up with my workflow.

@eyemgh I do enjoy overbuying my laptop, but I spend it on better screens, lighter construction, RAM upgrades and SSD upgrades. Fast, light, and reliable.

@boneh3ad I’ve worked in IT support for a number of years, so I’ve had experience with thousands computers. PCs definitely require more support and build quality is significantly inferior across the board. I used to recommend ThinkPads but quality has suffered since Lenovo purchased the business from IBM. It’s been years since I’ve recommended HP or Dell. No need to even consider Samsung. PC boxes are low margin commodity items. Apple does not design/build commodity products.

I disagree with you about TCO. Remember to factor in residual value. Sure, you can call my advice terrible. However, IBM would disagree with your statement, “there is absolutely no reason to ever pay a premium for Apple hardware.”

“Every Mac IBM purchases for its workforce saves the company between $273 and $543, depending on the model, versus the total cost of ownership of comparable PCs during a four-year lifespan, according to IBM. The upfront cost per Mac is typically higher than a PC, but the residual value for Macs is higher in the long term, the company says.”

http://www.cio.com/article/3133945/hardware/ibm-says-macs-save-up-to-543-per-user.html

Be sure to check the recommendation of your school. And don’t over do it. Four years ago, my son started at NC State and the recommendation was essentially any i5 or i7 machine currently in production. The $500 back to school dell special was the choice. He still has it, and uses it. But he did also build a desktop on the cheap by taking 6 months to buy the parts and waiting for the sales.

Even if you want something more than the minimum, think longer term. A $2000 laptop today packs some power, and a $1000 laptop is still good. But in two years, a new $1000 laptop, with the assumed benefit of moore’s law, will could out perform today’s $2000 machine.

Some schools specifically caution about Mac for ME majors. Here is UCLA’s advice: “We do caution students in fields like mechanical engineering that they may not be satisfied with the performance of graphics-intensive applications on a Mac machine running Windows.”

In general they are OK with Macs, but the OP will be an ME major.

The Lenovo X1 is more expensive than the 15 inch HP Spectre and has a smaller screen. Does it offer anything extra for the money?

If MacBook’s had touch screens and pens, we’d probably get one. Dc just thinks the brand is cool, but alas they don’t.

I’ve been trying to sell DD on the idea of a fairly powerful desktop plus a Chromebook, and use the campus network to access a remote desktop with the Chromebook. Or better yet, a netbook running Arch.
Much power, much portable, possibly the lowest overall cost per walking around gigaflop.

I couldn’t tell you all of the feature comparisons between the X1 and Spectre lines. I just know that I’ve used recent models of both ThinkPads and HP’s business line of laptops and in my opinion there is really no contest just in terms of how they feel. For me, the lack of a trackpoint is also a dealbreaker for any laptop.

@nw2this Did you guys decide on a laptop yet? It seems like you might have been focusing on an a Lenovo. We will probably be buying S’s laptop from the Virginia Tech bookstore. I think I will be paying a little bit more, but the service agreement and “loaner” laptops make it worth it.

These are the two he deciding between…

http://epos9-phx.sequoiars.com/ePOS?form=shared3/gm/detail.html&item_number=W40329&cat=1746&store=109&design=109

and…

http://epos9-phx.sequoiars.com/ePOS?form=shared3/gm/detail.html&item_number=W40328&cat=1746&store=109&design=109

I am pushing him toward the Yoga P40.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

@STEM2017

The Lenovo that we are liking now is the Lenovo Yoga 720, it is around the same price point as the Spectre x360 but has a quad core processor and better graphics (good for gaming and data processing) in addition to the pen, touch screen, and multiple ports. The problem is that we can’t find it in the dark color which is a deal breaker for my dc, so we may still get the Spectre.

I can’t say I understand the difference between Lenovo’s Thinkpad Yoga series and the 700/900 Yoga series. I do like how the pen fits into the machine on Thinkpads.

Your 3 year warranty is a nice plus especially if they’ll repair it on campus.

@nw2this Thanks, I’ll take a look.