Laptop for Chemical Engineering in College

[TH3R34P3R]

So, this is really straightforward. I will need a laptop for college soon, as I got accepted into college for chemical engineering. Budget is around 2,000 USD. while it being needed for basic things like notetaking, I would also like it to be able to play most current videogames for when I am not in class or doing homework. 

[Imbellis]

I'd recommend a laptop with a workstation graphics card - as you're most likely going to doing some CAD.

What uni are you attending? It dictates what classes you take (As most colleges have fyou use your first year as a general "welcome to engineering" year).

 

Here's a talbe I made a while back. for me, the Lenovo P52 was the most economical; for I got a good discount on it. For most others, dells were best.

All I have to say is don't choose a mac. They're just not good for this stuff.

 

[genexis_x]

8 hours ago, TH3R34P3R said:

Budget is around 2,000 USD

Location? Any preference on weight and battery life? Need Quadro GPU?

[TH3R34P3R]

20 hours ago, Imbellis said:

I'd recommend a laptop with a workstation graphics card - as you're most likely going to doing some CAD.

What uni are you attending? It dictates what classes you take (As most colleges have fyou use your first year as a general "welcome to engineering" year).

 

Here's a talbe I made a while back. for me, the Lenovo P52 was the most economical; for I got a good discount on it. For most others, dells were best.

All I have to say is don't choose a mac. They're just not good for this stuff.

 

going to rowan. and i figured i have to do CAD... however if I was to do all my cad stuff on my home computer, could my 2080ti do well? or should i still buy a simple like, p1000 or 2000 for my desktop as well. 

 

And then also go and get my laptop with a regular GPU if i have some small cad to work on. 

 

Or just go with a workstation laptop and use that? 

 

11 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Location? Any preference on weight and battery life? Need Quadro GPU?

Rowan. Will be commuting. im not certain if i need a quadro... weight and battery, well, as long as its not like super heavy (over like 8ish pounds, i should be good). Battery life, perhaps 6 hours for regular usage, maybe 1-2 while doing anything taxing. 

[Imbellis]

27 minutes ago, TH3R34P3R said:

going to rowan. and i figured i have to do CAD... however if I was to do all my cad stuff on my home computer, could my 2080ti do well? or should i still buy a simple like, p1000 or 2000 for my desktop as well. 

 

And then also go and get my laptop with a regular GPU if i have some small cad to work on. 

 

Or just go with a workstation laptop and use that?  

 

Rowan. Will be commuting. im not certain if i need a quadro... weight and battery, well, as long as its not like super heavy (over like 8ish pounds, i should be good). Battery life, perhaps 6 hours for regular usage, maybe 1-2 while doing anything taxing. 

Workstation cards really only have better stability and better CAD speeds so you'll almost certainly be fine with a 2080TI. You can always use TeamViewer to connect to your desktop if you need extra computing power.

Most unis are having all engineers take comp sci courses. A nicer computer good to have, but really isn't necessary.

 

With all that being said, my brother made it through his first year with a 15-f305dx - a quad-core at 2 GHz, integrated graphics, and 4 GB DDR3.

If you can get any good laptop deals through connections - take it. If not, dell is good for that niche between gaming and workstation and Lenovo is good for workstations.

You should probably aim for a laptop around the $1000 range. You'll get more power efficient parts and you really don't need a ton for first-year.

[genexis_x]

43 minutes ago, TH3R34P3R said:

Rowan. Will be commuting. im not certain if i need a quadro... weight and battery, well, as long as its not like super heavy (over like 8ish pounds, i should be good). Battery life, perhaps 6 hours for regular usage, maybe 1-2 while doing anything taxing. 

If you need Quadro: Thinkpad P52/P72, Precision 7530/7730 and Zbook 15/17 G5 (this is super expensive)

[TH3R34P3R]

42 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

If you need Quadro: Thinkpad P52/P72, Precision 7530/7730 and Zbook 15/17 G5 (this is super expensive)

so, the zbook 15 g5... about 2600 USD... and appears to be the best choice for quadro out of the 3 for what i would want... 

 

if i dont need a quadro, what would you suggest?

[genexis_x]

51 minutes ago, TH3R34P3R said:

if i dont need a quadro, what would you suggest?

There are many...1050TI/1060/1070MQ/1070 systems with big battery like Alienware m15 90Wh, Gigabyte Aero 15X, HP Omen 15 dc (non 1060, 70Wh battery) etc. However they have their own issues