Looking for a Laptop

[DekZek]

Budget (including currency): $1,000 USD, but am willing to go above if necessary.

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:

Although I am going to be using it for Engineering homework (AutoCAD, RAM Structural, etc.), there's no need to go overboard since anything too intensive for my computer to handle I can do at the University Lab. Other than that, gaming will typically be emulating Wii/Wii U games.

 

Given my past experiences and stated use case, I believe my spec requirements are:

• RAM: 16 GB
• CPU: i5 or better (if I want Thunderbolt compatibility, I have to go Intel. Basing this off of my previous computer, which was i5)
• GPU: Discrete, but idk enough to say what I'd need beyond that.
• Storage: At least 500 GB SSD

Feel free to let me know if this assessment is incorrect.

 

As far as non-spec needs/wants:

• A touchscreen I can use with my Surface stylus
• Front-facing camera
• Thunderbolt port (this is the only one that's strictly a need)
• My current computer is 14" large diagonally, but I can fit up to a 15"

 

Other details:

I'm upgrading from a Surface Pro 5 with an i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. The battery on it has degraded to only being able to run for 5-10 minutes away from the wall, and the process to replace the battery is significantly more involved than I am willing/capable of. This isn't an urgent purchase by any means, as the specs of the computer still mostly meet my needs.

At home, I plan on using the computer with a Thunderbolt dock I have from Dell. Specifically, it looks to be the WD19, which is identical to the WD19S but it also has a line-out port. At first, the only connections that are going to be used are the RJ45 jack and the HDMI port (to a 60fps, 1080p monitor), but I'm planning on adding more peripherals/monitors connecting through this in the future. The multiple monitors is why I'm looking for Thunderbolt compatibility.

 

Edit: Updated the specs I'm looking for based on feedback, and research I've done.

Edited January 19, 2024 by DekZek
Updating requirements

[Flavius Heraclius]

When you say AutoCAD, do you mean that program specifically? The system requirements differences between a 2D CAD program like AutoCAD and a 3D CAD/CAE tool like Solidworks or Inventor is significant. If you're going to be doing anything sizable in 3D CAD, take it from me, it is miserable without a discrete GPU. Particularly for an assembly of any appreciable size.

EDIT: RAM is also pretty important for CAD. You may want to consider going up to 16 GiB as your baseline.

[DekZek]

19 minutes ago, Flavius Heraclius said:

When you say AutoCAD, do you mean that program specifically? The system requirements differences between a 2D CAD program like AutoCAD and a 3D CAD/CAE tool like Solidworks or Inventor is significant. If you're going to be doing anything sizable in 3D CAD, take it from me, it is miserable without a discrete GPU. Particularly for an assembly of any appreciable size.

EDIT: RAM is also pretty important for CAD. You may want to consider going up to 16 GiB as your baseline.

I'm studying Civil Engineering, not Mechanical, so I haven't needed to use Solidworks or Inventor. I have done structural analysis (CAS 2000, RAM Structural, RISA), and my current computer does take a significant amount of time (running analysis on a 7 story steel/concrete office building took about 10 minutes, iirc) to run the analysis, but I was able to design the structural elements themselves with minimal lag.

[Flavius Heraclius]

Just now, DekZek said:

I'm studying Civil Engineering, not Mechanical, so I haven't needed to use Solidworks or Inventor. I have done structural analysis (CAS 2000, RAM Structural, RISA), and my current computer does take a significant amount of time (running analysis on a 7 story steel/concrete office building took about 10 minutes, iirc) to run the analysis, but I was able to design the structural elements themselves with minimal lag.

Ah, gotcha. I studied mechanical engineering, but don't know a ton about the software for civil.

I do stand by the 16 GiB of memory suggestion though, if you can support it in your budget. It makes life much better in a lot of different ways.

[DekZek]

Bumping since I updated the main post with more detailed specs. And slightly nicer formatting.

 

Edit: So I can't read and apparently if I connect the dock to a non-Thunderbolt port it would still function using DisplayPort over USB-C, just with a lower bandwidth. And I don't actually need the speeds a Thunderbolt port would provide so this whole post was based off a faulty premise.

Edited January 22, 2024 by DekZek
Lack of Braincells