Need a laptop for civil engineering.

R

Rob94hawk

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My son is going to Penn State for civil engineering.

Looking for something that has horsepower and can take portable punishment.

I'm sure there's a trade off between horsepower and battery life but I've bought aftermarket '12 cell' batteries before and they all suck.

Thanks

Edit: Is 15" screen big enough? And no bloatware.
 
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Dell Precision M3510 if you want quad core and good graphics.

The newer stuff is quite power efficient, and does not suck battery power near as much as older stuff does.

If you only need dual core and integrated graphics, then the Latitude E7470 should do the trick.

Make sure you get a 1920x1080 or higher screen, an SSD, and a bare minimum of 8GB of RAM.
 
Good graphics are key along with an SSD. Prices are all over the place on the Dell website.

How's their warranty?
 
Anytime I had to use their warranty, they have been pretty quick. Twice actually they even sent a tech to my home to change out the LCD that was defective.
 
Sounds good.

If I choose Windows 10 pro I can get a 15.6" 3840x2160 touch screen monitor.

Overkill? Or should I just stick with Windows 7 professional?
 
I don't want to burst your bubble, but I completed a Civil Engineering degree in the last 5 years or so, and I never needed to use my own hardware for anything more than word processing and excel. Even that could be done in computer labs. Usually, if you need to run something task-specific like AutoCAD, or other programs (which are actually fairly light weight, like HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, even some structural programs like Revit), the school provides licenses on their own computers for students to use. You can get them for your own computer, sure, nothing is stopping you, but even student editions cost hundreds of dollars, and he might use it for just a project or two.

Personally, I would not spec out a machine any more costly than for general use. If you're serious about an AutoCAD machine, then you'd be best off with a $2-3000 machine with a huge power brick. It'd be more like a desktop-replacement grade machine, not an ultrabook. IMO it isn't worth it at all.

My $0.02 after going through it all. Take it or leave it. All that being said, it looks like the recommendations in this thread are for decent general purpose machines.
 
Thanks for the heads up. He needs one anyway. The laptop we have at home is running on an old AMD 350 with a 5400 rpm drive.
 
Rob94hawk said:
Sounds good.

If I choose Windows 10 pro I can get a 15.6" 3840x2160 touch screen monitor.

Overkill? Or should I just stick with Windows 7 professional?
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You definitely want Windows 10, not 7, regardless of your other choices.
 
Just my $0.02, I finished a Mechanical Engineering degree here recently. At my school, each engineering discipline used a different modeling software (Mech Eng used solidworks, civils used Autocad) My university gave us student keys and had us put it on our laptops.

They also gave parents a laptop requirements sheet at orientation. I just took my laptop. I would recommend a decent processor and some dedicated graphics.

I also wouldn't go over 15". I personally carried around an Alienware M17x R1 and it nearly killed me with books and everything.
 
I'll echo cougarsoccer's advice on size. Remember, your son will probably be hauling this laptop across campus. Even if there aren't any textbooks, it's not fun to have some 17-inch, 8-pound behemoth on your back (or worse, your shoulder) when you have 10 minutes to get to your next class. I'd say something in the 14- to 15-inch class, under 6 pounds (preferably under 5) is the sweet spot.

If you want no bloatware, that limits your options a bit. I imagine Dell's Precision line will be relatively clean, but that's tricky if you end up shopping consumer Windows PCs. Microsoft's online store with its Signature Edition PCs would be your best bet in that case.
 
In Philadelphia you obviously want military-grade toughbooks.
 
uOpt said:
In Philadelphia you obviously want military-grade toughbooks.
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^^ Explain please ^^ :)


Yes toughbooks are durable, but are not really known for top-end performance, due to limited choices of cpu/gpu/ram/drives as compared with some other mainstream brands like HP or Dell....

Rob94hawk-

Yes W10Pro
Yes 15-16" max for luggin around
NO NO NO on the 8GB of ram, 32 min, 64+ preferred
NO to aftermarket batteries, you're right, most of them suk wallah....stick with OEM, even though they cost a little more....
Bloatware.... not much you can do about that on normal retail machines...he'll just have to learn how to get rid of or deactivate it and be happy !

And the problem with student/EDU licenses is that they are only good while you are, well, a STUDENT... if you continue to use them for very long after graduation, you WILL be in violation of the user agreements, which could potentially get you blacklisted from ever buying/owning your own personal copy....which may or may not be an issue if you get a job in your field soon after graduation, since your employer will probably give you a lappy with company licenses for all the apps you will need/use for work anyways :D
 
which could potentially get you blacklisted from ever buying/owning your own personal copy
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Ya, doubt that.. MS is not going to blacklist a person from buying their future products....abuse or not...hell they let OEM license go between machines with out blocking accounts...
 
uOpt said:
It's a stupid joke along the lines of needing an armored car in Philadelphia (and for best results 2 AH-64 Apaches overhead).

Just a stupid joke, will be fine.
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Thought so, just wanted to be sure I wasn't missin somethin...

I luvs me some Apaches (or Cobras too), hovering off in the background just above the horizon, patiently waitin to obliterate somebody's stinkin arse off the face of the earth.....hehehe :)
 
new guy necro'd this and you guys are replying to 7 year old posts.
necro doesnt even come close to the top ten either....
 
tommyrick said:
I will hopefully start a civil engineering course next year and was wondering if anyone had any advice on the best laptop. I have used a MacBook for several years and love the interface and would easily buy another one. However, i understand they are not quite up to the level of Windows when it comes to engineering applications. I know universities will have dedicated computer labs for the programmes, but will being able to use programmes in my dorm and away from campus be of importance? Or would a Mac do the job?
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find out what youll be using and get the requirements.
and then start your own thread, dont hijack.
 
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