<p>I'm looking for a new laptop that will be able to handle all of the necessary engineering programs.</p>
<p>My budget is around $1000 for something that will last me through college.</p>
<p>I'd prefer something with:
i5 or i7 processor
750+ GB hard drive
8GB RAM
15-17.3" screen</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be awesome!</p>
<p>You should check the computer requirements of school(s) for the school you are considering attending as a guide in addition to any recommendations you receive in cc. </p>
<p>Try for i7. You’ll need processing power</p>
<p>Processing power is far more complicated than just choosing a processor name. Unless you are going to use it to supplement your CAD work, many machines will be fine. </p>
<p>If you are, a $1000 machine won’t have enough horsepower. You’ll need a quad core processor, a Quadro graphics card and ideally 16 or 32g of RAM. Even then it will not be nearly as nice at CAD as a desktop. What school are you attending?</p>
<p>Yes, what does the school recommend?</p>
<p>Not gaming: Pretty much any new laptop will suffice
Gaming: You will need something with a dedicated GPU (i.e. NVIDIA)</p>
<p>Quite honestly, I never used my laptop for any CAD work. My school had more than enough computer labs with powerful desktops running licensed versions of any program we needed. It made no sense getting a crippled student version of a program for me to run on my laptop… Therefore my laptop was used for word processing/excel/MATLAB/internet/videos and occasional gaming. </p>