Laptop for Engineering?

[Linus_is_a_Badass]

Sorry for my ignorance, but the field of laptops is just so much more convoluted to me than desktops and I just don't get it, there are too many features, too many skus and the like. And maybe there's stuff happening in the laptop world like new releases coming up where it would be best to hold off on a purchase, or maybe prices are going up in our current situation. This is all uncharted territory for me!

 

I'm looking for a laptop that would hold strong for modeling (which isn't very intensive I guess), rendering, and maybe even some simulations. I don't think I need to go into 2070 territory, but budget wouldn't work.

Another annoying thing is that I see $1.2k laptops running high end Ryzen chips with 8GB of RAM when it's so cheap right now. I don't see much reason why they would have less than 16GB for the kind of applications they seem to be made for.

Something like a Ryzen 5 4600H should do me fine in the CPU department. Maybe there's something I'm ignorant of there though.

Also, I'm seeing a bunch of 4k displays, which is not something appealing to me. More power draw and reduced performance for no real benefit. Higher refresh rate is much more important than going above 1080p.

Finding what kind of docking support all these laptops have proves to be a real challenge. It would be fairly important to be able to have a good docking solution. 

When I try to understand the thunderbolt standards, my head rattles. I thought there were laptops that could charge, output display and input keyboard and mouse from one USB C cable, but everyone is always so vague about it. Otherwise, ports aren't that important. 

As far as battery life goes, I have a hard time figuring out how long certain laptops will last because manufacturers seem to just make up the numbers. Something that can take about 3 hours of fairly intensive use away from the wall is plenty though.

One more important aspect with these is the build quality. Things like a good keyboard, trackpad (not as important for me though), webcam and microphone are not ever really done justice with spec sheets. 

 

 

I feel like this is painfully specific, so if there is anyone out there who happens to know of a laptop that's mostly what I'm looking for, thank you for reading this!

[5x5]

Well you've definitely got a good idea of what to look for. Ryzen 4000 is the clear choice as it's far more powerful and efficient than anything else in laptops.

[marmour]

12 minutes ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

8GB of RAM when it's so cheap

Lots of gaming laptops, especially front he likes of Asus, come with 8gb in single channels it a free dimm slot. You can populate it for a 2x8 GB config yourself for about $40. Make sure to read reviews first to check this is the case.

 

13 minutes ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

Ryzen 5 4600H

4600H, 4800H and if intel is the only option, 9750h and 10750h should be fine.

14 minutes ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

When I try to understand the thunderbolt standards, my head rattles. I thought there were laptops that could charge, output display and input keyboard and mouse from one USB C cable, but everyone is always so vague about it.

You will struggle to find TB3 on a 'gaming' laptop of this price, and certainly won't on an AMD system as Intel only recently opened up the standard.

USB-C comes in 3 flavours, and also numerous different speeds. You get plain old USB C for data transfer, (10Gbps if 3.2 gen 2). Then there's USB with display port, and then USB with power delivery (usually about 60-65W)

19 minutes ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

because manufacturers seem to just make up the numbers.

Independent reviews are the place to look here. I would recommend reading notebookcheck's reviews, and watching videos from the likes of Jarrod's Tech, and Dave 2D if you want a quick overview.

 

As far as recommendations for you:

-Asus Zephyrus G14- Can be configured from as low as a 4600HS in some regions. Fits pretty much all your criteria

-Acer Nitro 5 with 4600H- cheaper, but plastic 'gamery' build

-Lenovo Legion 5 with 4600H- Bulkier but professional design. Only available up to 1650ti at the moment.

-Asus Tuf A15- suffers from significant thermal issues and a poor display, so make sure you know what your getting into.

-Asus G15- Less compact G14 with a larger screen but inferior in some ways

 

Hope this helps

[Linus_is_a_Badass]

9 hours ago, marmour said:

Lots of gaming laptops, especially front he likes of Asus, come with 8gb in single channels it a free dimm slot. You can populate it for a 2x8 GB config yourself for about $40. Make sure to read reviews first to check this is the case.

That sounds pretty reasonable. Only question is on compatibility. Do I have to be concerned with what add-in stick I use other than matching the DDR revision of SODIMM and the speed?

9 hours ago, marmour said:

You will struggle to find TB3 on a 'gaming' laptop of this price, and certainly won't on an AMD system as Intel only recently opened up the standard.

Now that you mention it, I think I remember hearing about Intel doing that on the WAN show lol.

 

The Zephyrus G14 and G15 are looking killer! Too bad there's no webcam, but there might be some sort of elegant solution to that. It's kind of weird that they offer so many skus and there isn't any way to make your own build. Maybe that's because of stock issues.

 

If they made the Legion 5 with a better spec graphics card, it would be a great buy!

 

Looks like I have some options now, and if nothing else it's a great starting point.

 

Thank you!

[5x5]

1 hour ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

That sounds pretty reasonable. Only question is on compatibility. Do I have to be concerned with what add-in stick I use other than matching the DDR revision of SODIMM and the speed?

Now that you mention it, I think I remember hearing about Intel doing that on the WAN show lol.

 

The Zephyrus G14 and G15 are looking killer! Too bad there's no webcam, but there might be some sort of elegant solution to that. It's kind of weird that they offer so many skus and there isn't any way to make your own build. Maybe that's because of stock issues.

 

If they made the Legion 5 with a better spec graphics card, it would be a great buy!

 

Looks like I have some options now, and if nothing else it's a great starting point.

 

Thank you!

The Legion 5 models with a 1660 and 2060 are coming soon

[Linus_is_a_Badass]

4 hours ago, 5x5 said:

The Legion 5 models with a 1660 and 2060 are coming soon

nice

[5x5]

4 hours ago, Linus_is_a_Badass said:

nice

Those should also include the Ryzen 7 4800H