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Message
Laptop recommendations for undergrad engineering
Posted on 6/2/21 at 8:22 pm
Posted on 6/2/21 at 8:22 pm
My son will be a freshman this fall. We have the required specs, looking for recommendations on brands and 16 vs 32 gb ram. Thanks
5
Posted on 6/2/21 at 8:29 pm to Ladadof3
Well...what are the required specs?
Posted on 6/2/21 at 9:23 pm to Fat Batman
Sorry
CPU (no Celeron) -Intel core i7
OS win 10 64 but
Mem 16GB
Hard disk 1 TB 7200 rpm
Display WXGA/WSXGA
Video built in
Wireless IEEE 802.11g/n/ac
Video conf min of 3.0 Mbps
Useful upgrades
Hard disk SSD 256 or greater
Mem greater than 16
Display FHD/UHD
Video 2 gb or larger discreet adapter
Wireless greater than 802.11g/n/ac
CPU (no Celeron) -Intel core i7
OS win 10 64 but
Mem 16GB
Hard disk 1 TB 7200 rpm
Display WXGA/WSXGA
Video built in
Wireless IEEE 802.11g/n/ac
Video conf min of 3.0 Mbps
Useful upgrades
Hard disk SSD 256 or greater
Mem greater than 16
Display FHD/UHD
Video 2 gb or larger discreet adapter
Wireless greater than 802.11g/n/ac
Posted on 6/2/21 at 9:57 pm to Ladadof3
I have no idea what an engineering undergrad uses their laptop for, but under no circumstances should you get him a laptop with a mechanical hard drive. SATA SSD is good. NVME M.2 is better.
Posted on 6/2/21 at 10:05 pm to Ladadof3
Do you have a budget range in mind?
Posted on 6/2/21 at 10:14 pm to Fat Batman
No real budget in mind. We know it’s probably going to cost a good bit. Would like it to last at least 4 years.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 1:52 am to Ladadof3
For undergrad engineering, a Dell XPS 13 or 15 will probably suit his needs.
Depending on specs and options, it will cost you anywhere from $800 to $2000.
Depending on specs and options, it will cost you anywhere from $800 to $2000.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 6:21 am to boXerrumble
My son is heading to UT for Engineering and we just went with a dell. What we learned from our daughter last year is that you do need the cores and memory for better excel performance but not necessarily a huge hard drive.
Go sad or better for sure.
Now if your son is going to use it for gamin too, then you will need great graphics and memory and hard drive space I guess. If he stays in engineering though, I am not sure when he will have a lot time to game :)
Go sad or better for sure.
Now if your son is going to use it for gamin too, then you will need great graphics and memory and hard drive space I guess. If he stays in engineering though, I am not sure when he will have a lot time to game :)
Posted on 6/3/21 at 8:13 am to Ladadof3
quote:
CPU (no Celeron) -Intel core i7
For engineering, don't skimp on the processor.
We went with a Lenovo.
Get a good extended warranty, especially one that covers drops and accidents, it's going to be in an out of a backpack 10,000 times, and hauled all over campus.
This post was edited on 6/3/21 at 8:15 am
Posted on 6/3/21 at 8:29 am to footballdude
LSU Engineering has recommendations on Computer requirements. All departments should have some recommendations.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 9:25 am to Ladadof3
The brand really doesn't matter much. The specs matter.
This post was edited on 6/3/21 at 9:25 am
Posted on 6/3/21 at 9:50 am to SG_Geaux
Oh and expect the weight to be 4 lbs or more for a company that works well for eng. sucks to haul that around but he is young so.....
Posted on 6/3/21 at 9:52 am to boXerrumble
quote:
Dell XPS 13 or 15 will probably suit his needs.
Holy crap I didn't realize Dell XPS laptops were that spendy. All of their 15" i7s appear to be 2k plus and they all look to be 10th and 9th gen (we are on gen 11) with 3 generation old graphics. Not saying they aren't capable machines, just that you could get a lot newer or the same tech for cheaper.
For instance:
This Dell XPS 15 Laptop for $1800
Has the same main hardware as this:
ASUS Zephyrus M15 for $1100
OP, personally I much prefer a ~15" screen to a ~13". On the 32GB v 16GB RAM, 32GB is a lot 16GB is fine. Since you don't say he is going to be gaming and the requirements call for discrete graphics I think you would be fine going with an Nvidia 1650 card, which is probably the oldest you'll find in a laptop with discrete graphics anyway, or above (oldest => 1650 1660, last gen => 2060 2070 2080, newest => 3060 3070 3080). NVME SSD as the main drive, they're lightning quick. i7 10th gen or 11th gen, preferably 11th gen since that is the newest. Or AMD Ryzen 7 or 9. Brands I'd be looking at ASUS, MSI, Dell, Razer, Lenovo. Filtering for those specs at Best Buy, you can change the filter to 13" screen as well.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 9:56 am to Ladadof3
quote:
Useful upgrades
Wireless greater than 802.11g/n/ac
i mean what are you going to be doing on a lap top to really need something more than AC? nice to have sure but this shouldnt be in "Useful upgrades" This post was edited on 6/3/21 at 9:57 am
Posted on 6/3/21 at 9:58 am to CarRamrod
but just go to slickdeals and look at the deals and get one that is above your specs.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 10:01 am to Fat Batman
quote:
Holy crap I didn't realize Dell XPS laptops were that spendy. All of their 15" i7s appear to be 2k plus and they all look to be 10th and 9th gen (we are on gen 11) with 3 generation old graphics. Not saying they aren't capable machines, just that you could get a lot newer or the same tech for cheaper.
For instance:
This Dell XPS 15 Laptop for $1800
Has the same main hardware as this:
ASUS Zephyrus M15 for $1100
OP, personally I much prefer a ~15" screen to a ~13". On the 32GB v 16GB RAM, 32GB is a lot 16GB is fine. Since you don't say he is going to be gaming and the requirements call for discrete graphics I think you would be fine going with an Nvidia 1650 card, which is probably the oldest you'll find in a laptop with discrete graphics anyway, or above (oldest => 1650 1660, last gen => 2060 2070 2080, newest => 3060 3070 3080). NVME SSD as the main drive, they're lightning quick. i7 10th gen or 11th gen, preferably 11th gen since that is the newest. Or AMD Ryzen 7 or 9. Brands I'd be looking at ASUS, MSI, Dell, Razer, Lenovo. Filtering for those specs at Best Buy, you can change the filter to 13" screen as well.
Yeah, I mean Dell XPS's are pricey, but in general they rate as the almost always the highest quality laptops you can get.
You are paying for that premium though for sure.
For engineering stuff, 16 GB should be fine for school work.
The Asus is a good deal, but again also on 10th gen, so its just a matter of what he needs, what his budget is, how much he wants it to last, etc...
Posted on 6/3/21 at 10:29 am to boXerrumble
quote:
The Asus is a good deal, but again also on 10th gen
I was just posting that ASUS because it has the exact same specs, including the 10th gen i7, as the Dell, but is 40% cheaper. I also don't know I would put Dell's quality over any of the brands I listed comparing similarly spec'd and priced machines. For instance, I would have no problem putting the build quality of that Zephyrus I linked up against the XPS I linked.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 10:38 am to Fat Batman
Unless there's something about engineering work that makes clock matter more than cores, there is no way I would buy something with an Intel chip, especially if I have to go last gen. I feel like a 3700 might be a price/performance sweet spot for this kind of work.
Posted on 6/3/21 at 11:07 am to Joshjrn
quote:why? i dont think you really can tell the difference between intel and AMD ad the UI level.
there is no way I would buy something with an Intel chip,
Posted on 6/3/21 at 11:43 am to Joshjrn
Yeah I'd prefer Ryzen, not sure I would go down to the Ryzen 7 3700U versus a i7 10750h that is in a lot of last year's machine in this class.
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