Question Laptop Recommendations for an Computer Engineering Student?

[CannedBeans5475]

Hi,

For context, my beloved Dell 5559 just broke it served me for a decently long period of time but I had to put it down, it was crashing almost every time and I tried all that I can to fix it. So the solution right now is finding a new laptop, I'm in college and I'm in my first year I am studying Computer Engineering and I need something stable. My main priority right now is being able to run AutoCAD, Arduino, and any other design software that can probably be demanding (maybe an i7+), my second priority is it needs to be something that I can carry almost anywhere, the size could maybe be a medium to slightly large. My last priority is being able to run games because sometimes I get stressed my main way of coping is playing whatever I want to let out some steam. I already tried watching a couple of videos on how to choose but I couldn't settle on one that I want. I would genuinely appreciate some help and feedback on this, I just started my first semester and things aren't too hard right now but I fear that if I put off buying a new laptop I might have a hard time keeping up with some of the lessons and the projects.

 

[Eximo]

Generally, you start with a budget. Too many choices out there in every price range.

I would say for your use case you want something with a dedicated GPU, so that rules out a lot to start.

i7, Ryzen 7
32GB of DDR5 4800 or better
RTX 4060 or better
minimum 512GB SSD, preferably 1TB.
15.6" or 16" with (Full HD) or 1920x1200 144hz screen.

Now that will probably be somewhere in the $1100+ range.

Another thing to do would be look for systems that only come with 16GB of memory, but room to expand. Same with the SSD.

 

[CannedBeans5475]

Generally, you start with a budget. Too many choices out there in every price range.

I would say for your use case you want something with a dedicated GPU, so that rules out a lot to start.

i7, Ryzen 7
32GB of DDR5 4800 or better
RTX 4060 or better
minimum 512GB SSD, preferably 1TB.
15.6" or 16" with (Full HD) or 1920x1200 144hz screen.

Now that will probably be somewhere in the $1100+ range.

Another thing to do would be look for systems that only come with 16GB of memory, but room to expand. Same with the SSD.

Hey, Thanks for the reply!

I completely forgot to put down my budget my bad, but the most I could probably afford is around $800-850 I could maybe stretch that a little bit if I really have to but at most I probably want something around that price range. But thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to find a sound compromise between all of the specs you just mentioned and my budget.

 

[Eximo]

Here are a few suggestions, not exactly what I would go for, but the budget is just on the threshold.

https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000C-0GXH3

https://www.newegg.com/acer-anv15-5...rce-rtx-4050-1tb-pcie-black/p/N82E16834360319

Decent price for a Ryzen 9:

https://www.newegg.com/msi-thin-a15...rce-rtx-4060-1tb-pcie-black/p/N82E16834156648

Maybe:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-t...=198&skuId=6560989&u1=058qSaqrWLLuxz1W2l4evvG

 

[CannedBeans5475]

Here are a few suggestions, not exactly what I would go for, but the budget is just on the threshold.

https://www.newegg.com/p/2WC-000C-0GXH3

https://www.newegg.com/acer-anv15-5...rce-rtx-4050-1tb-pcie-black/p/N82E16834360319

Decent price for a Ryzen 9:

https://www.newegg.com/msi-thin-a15...rce-rtx-4060-1tb-pcie-black/p/N82E16834156648

Maybe:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-tuf-gaming-a16-16-165hz-gaming-laptop-fhd-amd-ryzen-7-7735hs-with-16gb-ddr5-memory-radeon-rx7700s-512gb-pcie-ssd-off-black/6560989.p?acampID=0&affgroup="Content"&cmp=RMX&irclickid=2XzxljUABxyKU9OVAbQBUy0JUks2xx13iTlg3E0&irgwc=1&loc=Howl+Technologies,+Inc.&mpid=376373&nrtv_cid=2eni46468d8r6&ref=198&skuId=6560989&u1=058qSaqrWLLuxz1W2l4evvG

Thanks for the suggestions, I took it up with my dad and he couldn't believe how expensive they were when I tried them to Canadian Dollars I tried my best to convince him but he just wouldn't budge and he wanted me to find alternatives, my uncle suggested that I should try looking at Costco and so I did, after a bit of digging I found this:

ASUS VivoBook:
https://www.costco.ca/asus-vivobook...–-16gb-ram,-512gb-ssd.product.4000314600.html

Apart from the graphics card display size and the memory, the specs are almost the same I'm not quite sure if I can expand the memory to 32GB or if the maximum ram allowed is 16GB but I'll do a bit more digging so I can be more sure. What I'm most curious about is the graphics card though, I know it's not the RTX 4060 that you specified but from what I've read, the Iris Graphics does pretty well. I want to settle for this but there's this itching feeling I just cant quite point out.

Do I buy this or should I keep looking?

 

[Eximo]

That is just an integrated GPU, one of the slightly larger ones from Intel, nothing I would use for serious CAD or anything like that. That is a fine office and general use PC, but that is about it.

Really should have specified Canada, that is a completely different market and I don't really know the common pricing.

But at $900 CAD, you aren't likely to find much better from what I can tell. Maybe some older refurbished units you could look at with higher memory amounts and older GTX GPUs.

You will want to avoid the MX graphics solutions from Nvidia. The only real gain there is a having discrete GPU memory, they are basically the defective GPUs turned into a product and have very limited performance.