Need help finding a college engineering student laptop

[Roseand]

Being cyber monday I figured it'd be a good idea to do a little research on computers and maybe pick one up, but it's way harder to pick one out than I thought.. So I gave up on finding one today and figured I might as well get some advice from people here. I probably won't be getting one for the next couple weeks.

When it comes to computers I'm pretty much clueless. When I went to MSOE they provided me with an HP Zbook15(now that I'm transferring I have to return it too). Originally it came with 4gigs of ram which wasn't close to enough and it would make solidworks and other programs crash, but with an added 4 gigs it was alot better. Besides that... I had to have it reimaged 3 times, have the hardrive completely replaced, and even have to have a full replacement because the graphix on the screen started to get lines across them and got worse and worse. This was within a year, and everyone around campus complained about how terrible they were too..So I'm checking the zbook off my list. Obviously my school must have gotten an insane deal on them because they're stripped of the cd drive and keyboard backlight, etc and they retail for 3K.

That being said, i don't know exactly what to spend for what I need either. Looking around, there are computers with WAY better specs than the zbook for around 1k with fairly good reviews. Also, the new school i'm going to just gave a list of minimum recommended specs:

I3,i5,i7 or Phenom processor
250GB serial ATA or 128 GB solid State Drive minimum
10/100/1000 Ethernet Card 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi

As an engineering student I'll occasionally have to use CAD programs and software programs such as MATLAB. Other than that it'll be simply for everyday research and classes that require Microsoft office and the likes.

So far I've had my eye on the new Dell XPS and there's some by Asus and Lenovo but I know nothing about those two brands. Other than that, it sounds like the Macbook Pro would work since you can run both windows and mac if needed..
Any advice is appreciated, I'm looking to spend somewhere around 1k unless I need to spend much more to get what I need.

Thanks a ton aheada time!

 

[bigstu]

Being cyber monday I figured it'd be a good idea to do a little research on computers and maybe pick one up, but it's way harder to pick one out than I thought.. So I gave up on finding one today and figured I might as well get some advice from people here. I probably won't be getting one for the next couple weeks.

When it comes to computers I'm pretty much clueless. When I went to MSOE they provided me with an HP Zbook15(now that I'm transferring I have to return it too). Originally it came with 4gigs of ram which wasn't close to enough and it would make solidworks and other programs crash, but with an added 4 gigs it was alot better. Besides that... I had to have it reimaged 3 times, have the hardrive completely replaced, and even have to have a full replacement because the graphix on the screen started to get lines across them and got worse and worse. This was within a year, and everyone around campus complained about how terrible they were too..So I'm checking the zbook off my list. Obviously my school must have gotten an insane deal on them because they're stripped of the cd drive and keyboard backlight, etc and they retail for 3K.

That being said, i don't know exactly what to spend for what I need either. Looking around, there are computers with WAY better specs than the zbook for around 1k with fairly good reviews. Also, the new school i'm going to just gave a list of minimum recommended specs:

I3,i5,i7 or Phenom processor
250GB serial ATA or 128 GB solid State Drive minimum
10/100/1000 Ethernet Card 802.11a/g/n Wi-Fi

As an engineering student I'll occasionally have to use CAD programs and software programs such as MATLAB. Other than that it'll be simply for everyday research and classes that require Microsoft office and the likes.

So far I've had my eye on the new Dell XPS and there's some by Asus and Lenovo but I know nothing about those two brands. Other than that, it sounds like the Macbook Pro would work since you can run both windows and mac if needed..
Any advice is appreciated, I'm looking to spend somewhere around 1k unless I need to spend much more to get what I need.

Thanks a ton aheada time!

Do yourself a favor and get something that is a 2 in 1, so you can take all your written notes on Microsoft one note. Then get your books on pdf. Your back will thank you haha.

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[bird]

I'm a Software developer, gamer, pc builder, and electronics tinkerer. I will never buy a laptop, EVER! I have two hand me down laptops for playing music, but I never use them.

Laptops are under powered hotboxes that will always be inferior to a low dollar desktop. They do not make sense unless you're a salesmen or business student.

I had a PocketPC Phone in college (03-08) for checking emails on the fly or modifying Office documents. I've been rocking Remote Desktop since 2005, it's way better than having a mobile app... You get the entire processing power of your desktop and the "real" application on your mobile. It's almost seamless on my Windows 8.1/10 Phone now.

 

[Roseand]

I'm a Software developer, gamer, pc builder, and electronics tinkerer. I will never buy a laptop, EVER! I have two hand me down laptops for playing music, but I never use them.

Laptops are under powered hotboxes that will always be inferior to a low dollar desktop. They do not make sense unless you're a salesmen or business student.

I had a PocketPC Phone in college (03-08) for checking emails on the fly or modifying Office documents. I've been rocking Remote Desktop since 2005, it's way better than having a mobile app... You get the entire processing power of your desktop and the "real" application on your mobile. It's almost seamless on my Windows 8.1/10 Phone now.

I have to have a laptop. It's a requirement. I can't bring a desktop to class to use matlab..

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[Big Kahuna]

If you stick with Dell or Lenovo you will be fine. Find one that meets the specs. then find that model you liked but with more processor speed, memory, etc etc. They are outdated the minute you buy them. So find one with the most HP you can. Especially for what you are using it for.

 

[Roseand]

Are Asus any good?

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[Big Kahuna]

I bought my wife a Dell last year (Black Friday), was happy with it. dont know about Asus.

We have been through 2 HP's (Never again), a Samsung (It was ok, nothing great). So far, the Dell Is working out really well.

 

[bird]

I have to have a laptop. It's a requirement. I can't bring a desktop to class to use matlab..

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You can get MATLAB mobile apps, its just vector math. I used SciLab while in school.

If you need one for school, I'd suggest spending the money on desktop horsepower and getting a laptop that is name brand and not "top end" Name brand I mean: Microsoft Surface, ASUS, Dell, MacBook. Don't get off brand, laptops are largely proprietary hardware, whereas desktops share almost all parts.

Get a Solid State Drive, better battery, faster, and not susceptible to dying if dropped. i5 or i7 for sure. RAM is cheap, gets all you can.

 

[bird]

Here's a good example:
http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-13-7353-laptop/pd?oc=dncwz03h&model_id=inspiron-13-7353-laptop

 

[h2odesperado]

I have an Asus I've had since 2011 (!?) and it still runs pretty well. It was a mid-grade machine, was 6-700. I run catia, creo, solidworks and matlab (not at the same time).

I was told at the time I bought it that Asus makes great components, and trusted that they could make a good machine as well. The only issue Ive had in 4 years is the battery going bad, which will happen to anything.

I would recommend getting a ~$700 laptop for modeling and word processing, then use the rest of the budget on a tablet to bring to school everyday (pdf textbooks, notes, general bs). Its more durable and just easier to carry.

(source - am ME college student, this is my setup. I also see a lot of students with tablets.)

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[h2odesperado]

and if you do get a tablet, get a case with a keyboard. Makes long winded posts ^^ possible.

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[Roseand]

and if you do get a tablet, get a case with a keyboard. Makes long winded posts ^^ possible.

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What do you think of the 2 and 1 laptops? Alot of the Asus and Lenovo fold over and double as a big tablet too

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[Big Kahuna]

I like the Surface Pro's. But your limited by memory and power. Our Dell has the touch screen but we dont use it, does not do the fold over.

 

[EfX]

We use Siemens NX with a lot of other MS crap. NX like a lot of cad/ cam cae's is a resource hog. But the way I purchase desktops / laptops for these guys are based in order of importance according to performance. So in order, we get the fastest CPU (more than 2-4 cores has proven irrelevant with NX, speed is king and usually we use Xeons), as much RAM as possible, then an SSD over SATA since this will load EVERYTHING much faster. For graphics we always use Nvidia because ATI / ASUS always seems to have crap drivers and show issues with a lot of different CAD / CAM / CAE I've used over the years. The requirements here vary if your post processing code, or updating multiple files with expression changes that effect everything in the tools / injection molds we build. If you want more info, pm me, might be able to get you a decent deal on something or perhaps more appropriate insight for your needs.

 

[Scuttle]

+1 for the books on PDF. I just had a class that recommended 5 books. No way in hell im carrying that crap around. I use a crappy old laptop AMD X2 2.0GHZ TL-60. with 3GB of ram. I mean this thing is garbage.. It runs autodesk..matlab... tho no problem.

The surface pro's look sick. I tried one out taking notes on it and its really really good. But I still wont change to digital notes, it may be for you but I do not feel its really all that. I do have a cheap asus memopad for books, I use snipping tool alot though and you cannot easily do that stuff on the tablet. Those cyber monday deals will be around for a while... Watch out for some of the "seasonal" product... its not as good. I am an EE major so alot of the CADD stuff was minimal.

 

[bird]

If you're rocking Xeons, I hope you're utilizing buffered memory and video cards with dedicated codec hardware. Those are standards for a Production CAD system and video editing.

SSDs are now being added directly in the BUS line of the mobo. SATA is officially dead tech now.

We use Siemens NX with a lot of other MS crap. NX like a lot of cad/ cam cae's is a resource hog. But the way I purchase desktops / laptops for these guys are based in order of importance according to performance. So in order, we get the fastest CPU (more than 2-4 cores has proven irrelevant with NX, speed is king and usually we use Xeons), as much RAM as possible, then an SSD over SATA since this will load EVERYTHING much faster. For graphics we always use Nvidia because ATI / ASUS always seems to have crap drivers and show issues with a lot of different CAD / CAM / CAE I've used over the years. The requirements here vary if your post processing code, or updating multiple files with expression changes that effect everything in the tools / injection molds we build. If you want more info, pm me, might be able to get you a decent deal on something or perhaps more appropriate insight for your needs.

 

[EfX]

If you're rocking Xeons, I hope you're utilizing buffered memory and video cards with dedicated codec hardware. Those are standards for a Production CAD system and video editing.

SSDs are now being added directly in the BUS line of the mobo. SATA is officially dead tech now.

Indeed. We actually have to use very specific boxes for NX. Their techs will not help with anything if not using their tested, approved and specified hardware.

 

[Balduccimoto]

Do people actually use laptops in class anymore?? The best thing you can do is get a real desktop PC that can run CAD programs and reserve some money for a tablet you can use for ebooks (textbooks), notes etc. I have a heavily built desktop that I use for CAD/simulation/engineering software everyday. For portability I have an iPad (last generation is much cheaper) and I keep a leather case on it. You really need something that is durable that you can just toss in your backpack - trust me on this. I went through buying a Macbook Pro and I found that it was useless for my purpose and so I sold it and bought the iPad on sale. Don't fall into that whole "stylus note taking" fad. In engineering you need a mechanical pencil and paper.

Also, don't be tempted into getting a Mac. Your engineering software doesn't like Mac.

EDIT: Didn't read that you need a laptop for matlab in class. Your SOL. My "take away" laptop cost me $220. Something like that would serve your purpose for Matlab.

 

[Vumad]

~

 

[bird]

Doing Real-time video editing might be an issue. You can get really good response time if both systems are on fast connections. CAD shouldn't be an issue.

I do code development and have published/developed from my Phone(phablet) itself. I browse the web from my desktop on my Phone, comes in handy when you need access to the full "real" website.

Remote Desktop is used widely by System Admins, DBAs, and Developers. I can check on a running jobs while I'm at the store or bar. Never have to go back to my desk, I could work in the woods/tree-stand(but that's against hunting bylaws!)

So can I get a quality desktop at home and run full graphics software remotely from something like a surface pro? I have been putting off a laptop because of the cost and I don't want to buy a pos and later need the power. I'd be much happier if I could spend $1000 on a powerful desktop I can dual source for home media and cad then access the car remotely with minimal lag. Right now I have a galaxy tab 10.1, iPhone 5 and 8 year old hp laptop. The laptop works fine but stops at word processing and simple programs.

I'd expecting end up with a laptop. Desktops are better but I'm rarely at home.