11 Great Laptops For Engineering Students Reviewed

Looking for a great laptop for an engineering student?

Regardless of the type of engineering career you are pursuing – whether mechanical, electrical, or civil – we have you covered. Tech companies from Maine to California are looking for quality graduates, and that starts with the right equipment.

Our team has sifted through dozens and dozens of models from leading manufacturers (and also a few lesser-known brands) to help you find the perfect one to carry you through your studies!

The good news is the laptops we’ve chosen are on the stronger end of the performance spectrum, which means they will last you as you make your journey through school, and likely even after you graduate from college (or head on into a master’s program). Our picks are designed to help you get the most bang for your buck.

Need to find our top pick in a hurry? Check out the Acer Aspire VX 15. It has an excellent mix of power and features.

Best Laptops For Engineering Students

When researching the top laptop for an engineer, you have to start with processing and graphics power. Unlike the laptop for a computer science student, engineering students will be running CAD and drafting software are notoriously resource intensive, so trying to run them on an entry-level machine is a recipe for frustration. Storage is also a major concern, as these programs and the files they create can quickly eat up disk space. And while you might not need a professional-grade gaming laptop, you still want enough horsepower to blow off some steam playing computer games in your free time. A sub-$400 laptop won’t cut it – you are going to have to spend a little more to get one with all the features you need.

So with those needs in mind, here are our picks for the best laptops for engineering students:

1. Acer Aspire VX 15 Gaming Laptop

The overriding goal for most engineering students is a fast processor. The 15.6 in Acer Aspire VX 15 comes with the Intel i7 processor, which runs at 2.8 GHz, one of the latest processors. With 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD storage, you have the opportunity to work on many different projects at the same time. The battery life is 6 hours which isn’t the longest, but it will see you through a day of lectures.

It comes with a GTX 1050 Ti graphics card with 4 GB of RAM, so you can use the computer for other tasks besides engineering. A good quality graphics card is always useful for students, especially those who have settled down for a long evening of gaming after college. The 256 GB drive will guarantee speed while working on multiple tabs. For those who like to listen to music while multitasking it does the job, but you can add an external hard drive manually if you want.

Design-wise, it is made completely from plastic, which isn’t ideal for those who need something sturdy. The keyboard isn’t anything to write home about, and the keys are backlit with red which may be quite distracting but you have the option to turn them on or off. However, this is useful during late-night study sessions. It is also quite heavy to carry around daily, so if you want something lightweight, it might be a deal-breaker. But for the price, it is worth it.

2. Dell i5577-5335BLK-PUS Inspiron

For those who like a sleek design, this delivers the goods. While it’s not just a very good-looking product with an understated design, it is a good fit for engineering students in numerous ways. The laptop’s 7th Gen Intel i5 processor can hit speeds of 3.8 GHz and can process complicated software that takes up a significant amount of memory without slowing the system down. Its 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD RAM and storage guarantees multitasking across the board without feeling let down. The 256 GB solid-state drive will speed up installation time so you can get to work quickly.

The 4GB NVIDIA 1050 graphic card will help with those long gaming sessions, and is a very comfortable laptop to use, especially when typing at speed. It is the perfect suit for those that need to dig deep into long coding sessions, and the keys make very little noise, guaranteeing reduced distraction from incessant key bashing. The 15.6-inch FHD display is perfect for continuous working, and its layer of anti-glare will greatly reduce eye strain.

The downsides are the lack of physical space to add an extra hard disk, but you can bypass this by connecting an external hard disk. With three USB ports, as well as an HDMI port and an SD card reader, you have additional external storage. While the battery life is up to 7 hours, it can go down greatly when using it for multi-purpose activities especially when gaming. For its cost, portability, and design, overall it’s a great laptop ideal for mechanical engineers who need to work hard in the day and relax at night.

3. HP Spectre x360

This is hard to beat in terms of performance. With 16GB RAM and 512 GB SSD, in combination with the Intel core i7 guarantees a significant amount of speed and the ability to throw complex task at it without slowing the system down. With a full HD multi-touch display, you are guaranteed minimal eye strain, crucial during long engineering sessions. The 15-inch version is a heavy laptop, which isn’t ideal for carrying around, but this 13-inch model is lightweight and is indispensable for those students who venture outside more often than not due to its Full HD multi-touch display.

With a battery life of up to 8 hours, it is going to guarantee you can work when away from a power source. Design-wise, it is hard to beat. An aluminum casing and sturdy display is held by strong hinges, allowing anybody to open the laptop with one hand, rather than having to fumble with it. It is transportable and its diversity as a laptop is concerned makes it hard to beat. The screen also works with the HP Tilt pen that comes included, guaranteeing you can make quick work of fiddly tasks your finger is not up to. as far as this laptop is concerned, it serves so many different purposes, making it ideal for engineering students. The NVIDIA 1050-Ti graphic card makes it ideal for animation, gaming, and video editing; and the 2.1-megapixel webcam is not the best, but will do the job if you’re making calls home.

Overall, it is pretty impressive and looks stylish, but its ability to work multiple tasks, from working to gaming and streaming, makes it an ideal choice for students that need their laptop to be everything in one handy device.

4. ASUS ZenBook 13 Ultra Slim Laptop

On the physical side, this laptop is built for sturdiness. While it has a slim design, it is one of the few laptops that has undergone stress tests in conditions like high altitudes, humid environments, and a wide variety of temperatures, making it ideal for the traveling student. The all-metal design makes it appear sleek and stylish, and was voted the best design in 2019 by the website PCmag, which is not hard to argue with.

Despite its streamlined appearance, it is still able to pack a punch where it counts. With its Intel i7-8565u processor and 16GB of RAM and hitting speeds of 4.6GHz, it can handle a wide variety of tasks without any hint of slowing down. For those students who need dozens of tabs open with numerous streaming services, it can still handle all the mathematical equations at the same time. For all its power, the one main downside is its display. It doesn’t come with a graphics card, and only has Intel HD Graphics, which can throw a spanner in the works if you intended to use this laptop for games, as it may crash the system. The webcam is only 720p, which makes for a very average display. In addition, the keyboard doesn’t have a number pad and is integrated into the touchpad, which may take some time to get used to.

But for its cost and its sheer velocity in terms of speed provided by the 4.6GHz processor, it is a bargain. With a battery life of 14 hours, this is a laptop built for the long haul. Relatively light to carry, this laptop is perfect for the hard worker who needs to multitask on a budget.

5. Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop

As the name suggests, it is one for the gamers, but that’s not to say it is a slouch in other departments. The design makes it perfect for budding gamers and looks purpose-built for the art of long sessions. But its curves and slopes give it a different look to the traditional angular laptops, making a nice change of pace for someone looking for something different. It’s also a very comfortable laptop to use when sat down. The body is made from plastic and its connectivity options guarantee students can do a wide variety of tasks, from charging the phone, connecting to the TV, and so forth.

In terms of its power, the Intel i7-9750 H processor means it is bang up to date. The NVIDIA 1660 Ti Geforce graphics card and 144Hz IPS panel means it will not disappoint. And for all of the high-quality specs, it is very well priced. For those gaming addicts, the display gives you 70 to 80 frames per second, even when you are playing the most graphically complex of games, which is great news for people who want to put their laptop through the wringer.

While this is built for gaming, this laptop packs a punch when it comes to all-important work. For those doing a wide variety of simulations and calculations but are still wondering if they will be able to keep their speeds up for a gaming session, this will do the job. With 6 hours of battery life and weighing in at a whopping 5.07 pounds, it isn’t the longest-lasting or comfortable laptop when you’re out and about, but as it is a gaming laptop it is built to stay predominantly in one place, all at a reasonable price.

6. Dell XPS 9370 Laptop

Dell has always been known for a sleek design and the XPS 9370 is no different. It stands out thanks to its metal body and rose gold finish, and the anodized aluminum body makes it aesthetically pleasing. But there is more to it than meets the eye. The i7 core and 8 GB of RAM gives it the power it needs to handle any daily assignments effortlessly. Its battery life is 10 hours guaranteeing minimal problems when out and about, but its full HD display can consume the battery quickly if you plan on multitasking like a pro. But for most people who spend an average of 8 hours away from a power socket, it will do the job without issue.

The keyboard is easy to use and backlit for a pleasurable experience. The webcam is one of the best out there, and with four digital microphones, it guarantees good quality communication. The addition of a fingerprint scanner gives you peace of mind if you are concerned about security. The one downside is the Intel HD 620 graphics. For those people who deal with simulations on a regular basis, it would be better to get a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. But for the average student that needs to produce equations and calculations, this laptop will do the job without a problem.

It looks fantastic and is a little bit on the expensive side, but it is perfect for the vast majority of students looking for a premium laptop.

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7. Razor Blade 15 Gaming Laptop

Perfect for those looking for massive specs. The 4.5 GHz six-core processor and 16 GB of RAM means it’s a very speedy laptop in every situation. It is guaranteed to hold its own in long gaming sessions and complex equations. While its 6-hour battery life means that you cannot venture out and about for too long, for most students, it is the ideal laptop. It does so many different jobs with ease.

For those students that need a laptop to do the mathematical work but still require a game that delivers in terms of graphics, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is the best graphics card out there right now, guaranteeing you 60 FPS in HD whenever you sit down for a gaming session, which is hard to beat.

While it is not the cheapest laptop, for the wide variety of specifications it has, it is a bargain! It looks fantastic in an all-black aluminum case, and the customized RGB lighting on the keyboard in combination with its 4.6 pounds weight makes it a very portable machine and a comfortable laptop for most. The big downfall of this laptop is, understandably, its cost. But if you plan on investing in a laptop for the long haul, this oozes quality.

8. Samsung Notebook 9 Pro NP940X5N-X01US

Samsung has been criticized for the quality of its laptops in the past. But for those looking for something sturdy, this is the best they’ve come up with so far! The Notebook 9 Pro comes with 16GB of RAM and 2GB of video RAM, ensuring it can do most jobs easily. It is fast and has a wide variety of good specifications. Its Intel i7-8550U processor and full HD 13-inch touchscreen means that it is going to please most people.

In terms of practicalities, its Active Pen is the highlight. This pen helps you to work on the touchscreen so you can write or mark documents for easy access; a very handy addition to an already user-friendly design. The keyboard looks almost identical to the MacBook Pro and its quiet touch typing and minimal noise guarantee limited distractions for the user. A very good typing experience and easy-to-use. With 9 hours of battery life on Wi-Fi and supports fast charging, it is perfect for anybody out and about.

But for those hoping this laptop will power their gaming experience, the AMD Radeon 540 graphics card won’t be able to support anything extraordinary. You can do basic video editing and play some straightforward games, as well as important coding and simulations, but if you expect it to go the distance beyond this, you will be disappointed. Overall, it is a good quality laptop and the best that Samsung has done by far!

9. Lenovo Legion Y7000

One that is truly built for the long haul gamer; while Lenovo has been in the market for a while promoting cheap gaming laptops, they have now added some premium devices, including this one. As far as specifications are concerned, this is going to please the vast majority of people. With 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, and a full HD display with Dolby Atmos sound, this will tackle any complexity that you throw at it in gaming and in engineering.

Its futuristic design makes it appealing, although the unconventional position of the webcam makes it seem somewhat weird, this is a little thing. The laptop comes with a full keyboard and number pad, which is a refreshing change from most contemporary laptops, it is easy to write on, and its quick trackpad will ensure college projects are done without annoyance. But the lack of RGB lighting could be frustrating.

For its cost, it could be a little bit out of many people’s price range, and for those looking for the usual suspects, the lack of an SD card reader could annoy, but this is one minor quibble. When you are looking for a laptop that has a lot of power when it comes to gaming, this is ideal. For the engineering student who is looking for speed and power with an HD display, there aren’t many better laptops out there.

10. Apple MacBook Air

The MacBook is one of the most reliable machines out there, and for people who are looking for quality performance, and something long-lasting, the Apple MacBook Air will please many people. Its design is what we’ve come to expect from the MacBook; 11 inches of shear class, slim and sleek, it is an incredibly attractive thing. It looks upmarket, but despite the body being made from recycled aluminium, it still exudes the feeling of quality where it counts.

The 8 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD storage will guarantee it does the job for most and while it comes with the Intel i5 processor, which is not the best in comparison to other models on this list, the MacBook Air is still better than the vast majority of laptops out there when it comes to pure performance. While the RAM and processor are lesser than others, the applications on the Mac OS guarantee any newcomer to the world of Apple will feel the difference to older laptops.

For those uninitiated with the ways of Apple, the features are commendable across-the-board. With a touch ID fingerprint reader, it’s great for the security conscious, and the Retina display with more than 4 million pixels makes web pages look so crystal clear, eye strain is seldom complained of. The battery life can last up to 12 hours on a single charge and will help any engineering students on the move do their work easily. Weighing at a light 2.75 pounds, it is the perfect initiation to those not involved with an Apple product already. While the processor is outdated and has a hefty price tag, it is hard to beat.

11. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Laptop

For the security conscious, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 has a wide variety of features that are worth the price tag alone. The webcam has a Thinkshutter which covers itself up when you’re not using it, allowing for extra privacy if you forget to switch your camera off, and its fingerprint reader adds an extra layer of authentication and protects your data. Performance wise, the 1.9 GHz processor and 16 GB of RAM guarantees you can do all tasks without a problem. The Intel core i7 8th processor will ensure you can do daily engineering tasks like editing and coding, and as newer Intel processors are 35% faster, this will make all the difference when it comes to booting up the system and installing programs so you won’t waste time.

The design guarantees it is usable and lightweight for traveling. Made from magnesium and carbon, you can take this from location to location and it will stay strong. Lenovo makes every laptop undergo stress training to ensure it can adapt in extreme environments, so it is ideal for any student that has to travel considerable distances and are worried about bashing their laptop. With a battery life of between 9 and 15 hours on a single charge, it is ideal for those constantly on-the-go. And the RapidCharge technology guarantees it will operate at 80% battery in the space of an hour making it perfect when you’re on your lunch break and need to charge it quickly. Another nice feature is Amazon Alexa. If you are looking to go hands-free and go about your business, like playing music or opening up articles, there is no need to touch the computer. But the comfortable keyboard and trackpad can make you feel right at home when typing or not.

The fans can get a bit noisy, especially when you are gaming, but this is a small thing. It is more expensive than other ultrabooks on the market, but overall this is a laptop built for efficiency. For its speed, battery life, and portability, this is almost perfect.

Engineering Laptop Video

Engineering laptops aren’t all about horsepower. While strong cpu’s and graphics processors are a big factor in our buyer’s guide, there are other aspects for the budding engineer to consider. For example, here is a good YouTube video by a chemical engineering student talking about how she uses hers in taking notes:

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