Good laptop for engineering student?

[taheera]

hi, i am looking at laptop options . found the dell precision 3541 to meet most of the specs, but it has a p620 quaddro graphics card - does anyone have any input on this graphics card - how bad is it/how good is it.
has anyone worked with the MSI range of laptops for engineering?

 

[garyc]

hi, i am looking at laptop options . found the dell precision 3541 to meet most of the specs, but it has a p620 quaddro graphics card - does anyone have any input on this graphics card - how bad is it/how good is it.
has anyone worked with the MSI range of laptops for engineering?

I recently got one of these laptops from Nucleustech. Very impressed by it and glad that I did not go for something else. They only drawback might be that it is built like a tank, and therefore heavier than some other models out there.

The Quadro P620 graphics was one of the main reasons that I went for it. Gaming cards are not very good for engineering applications due to their somewhat erratic OpenGL support. I have been down that road often with installing CAD on various systems. You may very easily get lucky, but if not then the system may be unusable. I have not given the Precision a serious test on this software, but intend to install CAD and FEM as soon as I am back in the office. There should not be any problems due to the independent software vendor certification.

If you are intending to do some gaming as well then this will not be the ideal graphics.

 

[hjst45]

As someone who graduated Mechatronics engineering just over a year ago, here's my advice:

Decent CPU: i3, i5 or i7 (doesn't need to be the latest gen)
GPU is not that important, since the CAD you'll be doing is extremely basic. Remember: Bigger GPU, less battery!
Lightweight and 15" or less

and most importantly,

BATTERY LIFE!

You'll regularly sit with your laptop in lectures with e-books or lectures slides open, so you definitely don't want something that'll die after an hour...

Trust me, you will regret buying a top-of-the-range R40k laptop that you have to lug around classrooms. Anything in the R10k-R20k range will be perfect.

If you want to game, rather get a console separately. Don't try to get something that's the best of both worlds, it doesn't exist.

 

[Johnatan56]

As someone who graduated Mechatronics engineering just over a year ago, here's my advice:

Decent CPU: i3, i5 or i7 (doesn't need to be the latest gen)
GPU is not that important, since the CAD you'll be doing is extremely basic. Remember: Bigger GPU, less battery!
Lightweight and 15" or less

and most importantly,

BATTERY LIFE!

You'll regularly sit with your laptop in lectures with e-books or lectures slides open, so you definitely don't want something that'll die after an hour...

Trust me, you will regret buying a top-of-the-range R40k laptop that you have to lug around classrooms. Anything in the R10k-R20k range will be perfect.

If you want to game, rather get a console separately. Don't try to get something that's the best of both worlds, it doesn't exist.

Disagree with that from ~9th gen Intel and 4000 series AMD mobile GPUs. On my wootbook 9th gen (i7 9750H, so 45W part) I get a good 5h+ with medium brightness, RTX 2060 but that doesn't turn on as it uses the intel graphics. The new AMD generation is supposed to hit 8h+ for most devices.
Both will cost you quite a bit.

It will probably end up better buying a cheaper laptop to take to uni and get a stronger desktop for home that you can game and/or do your projects on as it's cheaper to upgrade that hardware and you can buy stuff piece by piece.

 

[hjst45]

Disagree with that from ~9th gen Intel and 4000 series AMD mobile GPUs. On my wootbook 9th gen (i7 9750H, so 45W part) I get a good 5h+ with medium brightness, RTX 2060 but that doesn't turn on as it uses the intel graphics. The new AMD generation is supposed to hit 8h+ for most devices.
Both will cost you quite a bit.

It will probably end up better buying a cheaper laptop to take to uni and get a stronger desktop for home that you can game and/or do your projects on as it's cheaper to upgrade that hardware and you can buy stuff piece by piece.

I was referring to what you can get for a budget acceptable to his needs. You definitely don't need a beast of a laptop for engineering, despite what people think.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

If you want to game, rather get a console separately.

Burn the heretic!

 

[Johnatan56]

I was referring to what you can get for a budget acceptable to his needs. You definitely don't need a beast of a laptop for engineering, despite what people think.

Well, I'd disagree if we weren't specifically talking about university. If you're doing it as a job, your time is generally more expensive than the hardware.
I know I'm definitely more expensive than the hardware I use.

 

[umamankandla]

I've been a hardcore Dell supporter for 7 years until they decided one day that I wasn't worthy of support on a faulty motherboard. They kept swoping out the hard drive for some reason.

Moved the entire company over to Lenovos. Affordable and reliable. Go for a Solid State Drive option.

 

[Johnatan56]

I've been a hardcore Dell supporter for 7 years until they decided one day that I wasn't worthy of support on a faulty motherboard. They kept swoping out the hard drive for some reason.

Moved the entire company over to Lenovos. Affordable and reliable. Go for a Solid State Drive option.

Would never pick a Lenovo in South Africa because warranty is through PartServe. Most of the rest of the world Lenovo warranty is top class.

 

[taheera]

As someone who graduated Mechatronics engineering just over a year ago, here's my advice:

Decent CPU: i3, i5 or i7 (doesn't need to be the latest gen)
GPU is not that important, since the CAD you'll be doing is extremely basic. Remember: Bigger GPU, less battery!
Lightweight and 15" or less

and most importantly,

BATTERY LIFE!

You'll regularly sit with your laptop in lectures with e-books or lectures slides open, so you definitely don't want something that'll die after an hour...

Trust me, you will regret buying a top-of-the-range R40k laptop that you have to lug around classrooms. Anything in the R10k-R20k range will be perfect.

If you want to game, rather get a console separately. Don't try to get something that's the best of both worlds, it doesn't exist.

Hi, i think i am more confused now. no its not for gaming, but others are saying he must get a gaming laptop because of the graphics card, but they get very hot, so now we at the dell workstations but the price range comes with a P620 graphics card which is quaddro so thats good for cad, but its only the entry level quaddro (equivalent to GTX 1050) and there doesnt seem to be a reasonably priced option when you want a better graphics card, they all go for 30k upwards when you want the better graphics card.

and the other dilemma also is that most computer shops dont sell this type of laptop in Cape Town, so there isnt anywhere you can view it, test it, etc.

it would help if you would mention the exact name/specs of the laptop you used since you basically just qualified, and what software you operated on that laptop, which university were you at if i may ask?

 

[Barbarian Conan]

Hi, i think i am more confused now. no its not for gaming, but others are saying he must get a gaming laptop because of the graphics card, but they get very hot, so now we at the dell workstations but the price range comes with a P620 graphics card which is quaddro so thats good for cad, but its only the entry level quaddro (equivalent to GTX 1050) and there doesnt seem to be a reasonably priced option when you want a better graphics card, they all go for 30k upwards when you want the better graphics card.

and the other dilemma also is that most computer shops dont sell this type of laptop in Cape Town, so there isnt anywhere you can view it, test it, etc.

it would help if you would mention the exact name/specs of the laptop you used since you basically just qualified, and what software you operated on that laptop, which university were you at if i may ask?

I think you are overthinking this.
Did you get a requirement from the university with regards to a laptop?
Has it been explicitly stated that they need laptops, and did they give requirements?

 

[hjst45]

Hi, i think i am more confused now. no its not for gaming, but others are saying he must get a gaming laptop because of the graphics card, but they get very hot, so now we at the dell workstations but the price range comes with a P620 graphics card which is quaddro so thats good for cad, but its only the entry level quaddro (equivalent to GTX 1050) and there doesnt seem to be a reasonably priced option when you want a better graphics card, they all go for 30k upwards when you want the better graphics card.

and the other dilemma also is that most computer shops dont sell this type of laptop in Cape Town, so there isnt anywhere you can view it, test it, etc.

it would help if you would mention the exact name/specs of the laptop you used since you basically just qualified, and what software you operated on that laptop, which university were you at if i may ask?

A GTX1050 is more than enough. I bet you'd even get away with Intel graphics, but a dedicated card is preferable.

Software you'll use daily:
Adobe Reader
MS Office

Software you'll use periodically, depending on modules:
MS Visual Studio
Autodesk Inventor / Solidworks
Matlab

Depending on which field you go into, software you'll use 3rd year onwards:
Siemens TIA Portal

Studied at NMU.

If you can afford it, I'd look at something like this:

20x New Dell Precision 3541 Workstations (i5-9400H 4 Core, 8 Threads, 16GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, NVidia Quadro P620 4GB))

Item: 20x Dell Precision 3541 Workstations CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-9400H (4Core, 8 Threads , 12MB Cache, up to 4.3GHz Turbo, 35W) RAM: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Storage: 256GB NVMe M.2 SSD (Upgradable to 512GB on request) Display: 15.6" FHD (1920X1080) IPS Display Graphics: Nvidia Quadro® P620 w/4GB GDDR5...

mybroadband.co.za

 

[taheera]

A GTX1050 is more than enough. I bet you'd even get away with Intel graphics, but a dedicated card is preferable.

Software you'll use daily:
Adobe Reader
MS Office

Software you'll use periodically, depending on modules:
MS Visual Studio
Autodesk Inventor / Solidworks
Matlab

Depending on which field you go into, software you'll use 3rd year onwards:
Siemens TIA Portal

Studied at NMU.

If you can afford it, I'd look at something like this:

20x New Dell Precision 3541 Workstations (i5-9400H 4 Core, 8 Threads, 16GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, NVidia Quadro P620 4GB))

Item: 20x Dell Precision 3541 Workstations CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-9400H (4Core, 8 Threads , 12MB Cache, up to 4.3GHz Turbo, 35W) RAM: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Storage: 256GB NVMe M.2 SSD (Upgradable to 512GB on request) Display: 15.6" FHD (1920X1080) IPS Display Graphics: Nvidia Quadro® P620 w/4GB GDDR5...

mybroadband.co.za

thank you

 

[kamikazi]

That Dell looks like a very decent laptop to get you through engineering class. The Quadro class GPU is slightly preferred for the applications that require certified OpenGL drivers, but there aren't too many of those around nowadays, but for stuff like Solidworks or Catia it will be very useful to have. If you are going to do be doing more programming like machine learning and more AI stuff, then a Geforce class laptop with more CUDA cores and memory will probably be more useful than a Quadro based laptop. Then I'd look at a GTX 1660 Ti/ RTX 2060 spec if you can afford it.

I have a slightly older Thinkpad P51 with a very similar specification to the Dell that works great for software development and general CAD. I've bumped up the RAM to 32GB so I can run VMs on the PC. This type of machine is also fine for most of the popular games that aren't too graphical intensive and they should just run fine even at 1080P and otherwise just dial the graphical detail level down a notch or two.

Best thing for varsity is to have a reliable laptop that can handle daily bumps and bruises of being carried around and have good battery life. A 3 year warranty is a good indicator of a solid backing, and I'd trust these laptops to last better than a gaming laptop. At 2 Kg this Dell laptop is also not that heavy, but make sure you check out the power brick too. The power brick on some CAD specification laptops weigh quite a lot!

 

[Johnatan56]

That Dell looks like a very decent laptop to get you through engineering class. The Quadro class GPU is slightly preferred for the applications that require certified OpenGL drivers, but there aren't too many of those around nowadays, but for stuff like Solidworks or Catia it will be very useful to have. If you are going to do be doing more programming like machine learning and more AI stuff, then a Geforce class laptop with more CUDA cores and memory will probably be more useful than a Quadro based laptop. Then I'd look at a GTX 1660 Ti/ RTX 2060 spec if you can afford it.

I have a slightly older Thinkpad P51 with a very similar specification to the Dell that works great for software development and general CAD. I've bumped up the RAM to 32GB so I can run VMs on the PC. This type of machine is also fine for most of the popular games that aren't too graphical intensive and they should just run fine even at 1080P and otherwise just dial the graphical detail level down a notch or two.

Best thing for varsity is to have a reliable laptop that can handle daily bumps and bruises of being carried around and have good battery life. A 3 year warranty is a good indicator of a solid backing, and I'd trust these laptops to last better than a gaming laptop. At 2 Kg this Dell laptop is also not that heavy, but make sure you check out the power brick too. The power brick on some CAD specification laptops weigh quite a lot!

At uni level, it will be cheaper to use GPU accelerated instances on AWS or Azure as you'll be doing it so rarely, rest of the time it's fine to run it off of CPU as your training sets will be tiny.

 

[kamikazi]

Windows 7 has been end of life for ±3 years now. You should consider moving to a newer OS so as it is not receiving any security updates anymore. Note that Windows 10 is also not far behind in being retired from service (±2 years to go). So looking forward and staying with Windows as a platform, you would need a laptop with an 8th gen series Intel processor or later so your system does not become obsolete before you finish your studies. Generally the performance of a quad core i5 or i7 mobile processor should be more than adequate for engineering work, though you could struggle with some specialised CAD software..

What requirements does your school have for an OS and engineering software you intend to use? That would give you an indication of the type of computer that you will need.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

I am looking for some advice and hopefully I can get it here. I need to buy a new laptop that I can use IN ADDITION TO my desktop for school next year. All recommendations that I have found for Engineering students are for laptops that will be primary computers. I want to get a laptop that will supplement my desktop, powerful enough to take into a lab and be able to mostly complete many of the same functions but I dont want to be spending 1200-1500 on something that wont be an everyday computer. I have an XPS that will be three years old around the time classes begin in the fall and runs Windows 7 home with an Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40 GHZ and 12.0 GB RAM. In addition to papers and reports, I expect to use this with more demanding operations like design modeling in Autocad and running simulations. Computers have never been a strong suit of mine (I can get through a short conversation) and the questions I have are about specs and some may not even be all that important. Is the difference between a 5th gen i5 vs. 4th gen i7 vs. 5th gen i7 all that noticeable and needed for a student? Is 8.0 GB RAM enough to handle the work load i micht expect or should I push for 12.0? Wanting Windows 7 Pro is pretty much the only requirement I have. I've been issued Lenovo Thinkpads in jobs before and they seem to top most of the lists I have come across. For me I found them reliable but their price is very high, as is also the price for the HP ZBooks. Im leaning towards the HP Envy 15t or Dell Inspiron 15 5000 (though Im not crazy about this Dell) So any thoughts, suggestions, comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Since you already have a laptop, see how well that one works for you and if there are decent computers in the labs.

The i7 3770 isn't 3 years old, more like 13 years old, but it could still function OK with an SSD.
Are you pricing in USD or Rands?

 

[garyc]

I am looking for some advice and hopefully I can get it here. I need to buy a new laptop that I can use IN ADDITION TO my desktop for school next year. All recommendations that I have found for Engineering students are for laptops that will be primary computers. I want to get a laptop that will supplement my desktop, powerful enough to take into a lab and be able to mostly complete many of the same functions but I dont want to be spending 1200-1500 on something that wont be an everyday computer. I have an XPS that will be three years old around the time classes begin in the fall and runs Windows 7 home with an Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40 GHZ and 12.0 GB RAM. In addition to papers and reports, I expect to use this with more demanding operations like design modeling in Autocad and running simulations. Computers have never been a strong suit of mine (I can get through a short conversation) and the questions I have are about specs and some may not even be all that important. Is the difference between a 5th gen i5 vs. 4th gen i7 vs. 5th gen i7 all that noticeable and needed for a student? Is 8.0 GB RAM enough to handle the work load i micht expect or should I push for 12.0? Wanting Windows 7 Pro is pretty much the only requirement I have. I've been issued Lenovo Thinkpads in jobs before and they seem to top most of the lists I have come across. For me I found them reliable but their price is very high, as is also the price for the HP ZBooks. Im leaning towards the HP Envy 15t or Dell Inspiron 15 5000 (though Im not crazy about this Dell) So any thoughts, suggestions, comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

A big driver is your requirement for AutoCAD, which will push up the price of the laptop. Is there any chance you can move this to the desktop, or are you required to do this in-situ?

The system requirements for AutoCAD are here: https://www.autodesk.com/support/te...oCAD-2024-including-Specialized-Toolsets.html and the requirements for AutoCAD LT are here https://www.autodesk.com/support/te.../System-requirements-for-AutoCAD-LT-2024.html.

These are steep (i.e. expensive) requirements, and it may be best to ask your faculty if the they have suggestions based on the level of model complexity you may be involved in. If it is relatively simple you may get away with a bit less than the recommendations.