Question Engineering student needing a laptop

Jun 11, 2020
2
0
10
Best portable laptop for an engineering student - handling structural analysis/testing software, AutoCAD 2D, video editing. Budget 1-1.2k USD.
 
Jun 11, 2020
2
0
10
Dell and HP have "Mobile Workstation" systems. They should have ECC RAM and possibly GPUs with data integrity/accuracy features.
Dell calls theirs the Precision series, and Nvidia workstation GPUs are the Quadro family.
HP, Lenovo,and AMD all have their versions of these also.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-mobile-workstations

Thanks for the reply! Found out I'll need to use Diana FEA -https://dianafea.com/content/considerations-systems-running-diana
The processors they recommend pretty much result in laptops that are double my budget, although I've realised I'm definitely going to need to increase it regardless. If I can get a laptop with a 8 or 10th gen i7 processor, is that gonna be a huge difference from the Xeon processors they've recommended? Because a USD 3k+ laptop is impossible for me.
 
May 4, 2020
29
4
35
Lenovo ThinkPad P52s will be a perfect choice as per your budget.

Here's the config-

Processor: Intel Core i7-8550U
RAM: 32 GB DDR4
Storage: 1 TB SSD
Display: 15.6″ FHD
Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro P500
Weight: 4.3 lbs
Battery Life: Up to 7 hours

Note: I recommend you to buy a laptop that comes with Autodesk's certified graphics card. Here's the list of all the graphics card that Autodesk has certified as best for running programs like AutoCAD: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/certified-graphics-hardware

As per the list, the above-mentioned laptop has NVIDIA Quadro P500. This is present in certified graphics card list
 

cadder

Distinguished
Nov 17, 2008
1,711
1
19,865
I'm a structural engineer, I don't think there is anything special about FEA software, it will run on all of our normal processors but may have a requirement for minimum RAM. My company uses Dell laptops with i7 processors. There is a lot of benefit in being able to take the laptop off of your docking station and carry it into a meeting.