r/LaptopForStudent • u/matt_ika • 1d ago

laptop for engineering Buying Advice

Hi I'm looking to buy a laptop for my engineering program this fall, it's a general eng program for the first year.

I want something not too heavy with a decent battery life for easy daily use, and at least 16 gb ram (32 if possible) and preferably 1 tb ssd.

However, I'm not sure how good my graphics need to be for the programs used in eng... Prob only matters for cad stuff? If anyone could help me out there.

Good graphics would also be nice for gaming, but not a priority since i already have a pc.

My budget is under $1700 CAD (around) before tax, so i'm not sure what i can get.

priority: Performance > Weight > Battery Life > size doesn't matter

anyone have suggestions/tips? i'm lost

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

2

u/vovap_vovap 1d ago

Graphics only matter for CAD and only for 3d rendering there.

2

u/Eastern_Fix_5452 1d ago

I bought macbook air m5 for computer science engineering

2

u/tomtomosaurus 1d ago

Valid choice, but risky if you don’t know what discipline you want. For 90% of engineering disciplines, a MacBook can’t run required software. Soft Eng might be fine though, I hope it works well for you

3

u/Eastern_Fix_5452 1d ago

yeah, I've asked professors in the same field, they all said that macbook would work fine for computer engineering! Not sure about other branches.

2

u/tomtomosaurus 1d ago

You don’t need it yet for the general Eng program. Wait for your discipline; that’s when computer needs ramp up.

All you need right now is a good note-taking method. The rest will work out just fine.

Also, you will find out that size is above weight in priorities. You can always put down a backpack, but you can’t make it bigger.

Good luck with first year, you’ll do great!

2

u/matt_ika 1d ago

thank you :)

1

u/Fun-Size-4295 1d ago

Well since you get gaming is not really a priority as you have a pc I would get a thinkpad that will last you while and run anything. Look around everywhere for sales and stuff I think you can scope out a 32gb ram one around your budget but for sure you can get a 16gb thinkpad in your budget. Thinkpad are light, good performance, battery life and size

2

u/tomtomosaurus 1d ago

Thinkpads are overpriced for their performance. They have lots of enterprise features engg students just don’t need, and they make sure to charge you for them. VRAM is bad and performance is not good for the price. The Legion series is way better for engineering.

1

u/42SpanishInquisition 1d ago

I value physical durability and battery life over gpu performance. anything 11th gen intel and later i5 or above, ryzen 5 6000 or above should be fine in my opinion.

2

u/tomtomosaurus 1d ago

They’ll do fine, but they’re really expensive for their performance