Question Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Xeon vs i7 for mechanical engineering degree?

[kadenvantuinen]

Hello, I am going in to mechanical engineering in the fall, and I was wondering what would be a better laptop choice, the Lenovo Thinkpad P1(Xeon E-2176M vPro 6 core 2.7GHz, Quadro P2000, 32 GB DDR4 2666MHz ECC), or the Lenovo Thinkpad P1(i7-8850H vPro 6 core 2.6GHz, Quadro P2000, 32GB DDR4 2666MHz). Or if I will even need a laptop that powerful, such as the Dell XPS 15 9570(9580??) with a regular consumer graphics card(i7-8750H 6 core, GTX 1050Ti 4GB, 16/32GB DDR4 2666MHz) or the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme(i7-8750H 6 core 2.2GHz, GTX 1050Ti 4GB, 16/32GB DDR4 2666MHz)?

 

[Gam3r01]

Its very unlikely that you would need anywhere near that level of hardware in a laptop, especially right off the bat.
Expect to be doing at least a year of significant levels of math and physics before you need to get into that level of hardware.

By getting into your major first you will be better able to assess what hardware needs you have, and whether or not a laptop like your two choices is even warranted. Talk to some professors and graduate students, they will be able to tell you what you will expect to use in your field at that institution.