Since my son will be attending an engineering college next fall. He needs a laptop. So researching and buying the best laptop for an engineering student have been one of our goals. After did the research, we could not find the answer to the question, what is the best laptop for engineering students. However, we came our conclusion and bought a new laptop for my son.
If you are in similar situation like us. First question you need to ask yourself is what your budget is. The max budget that we have is around $1,000. We want this computer to last at least 4 years. We were looking at a Thinkpad and some Dells.
We Bought:
Dell Inspiron i17R-2248MRB 17.3-Inch Laptop
Technical Details
- Intel Core i5-460M 2.53GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz, 3MB Cache
- 4GB RAM; USB 2.0 (3); Combo eSATA/USB 2.0 (1); HDMI and VGA; RJ45 Ethernet; 1 Half Mini-Card Slot; 1 Headphone Jack; 1 Microphone Jack
- 500GB Hard Drive; 8x CD/DVD Burner (Dual-Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
- 17.3″ High-Definition Display; Intel HD Graphics
Because we want a high-quality and high-performance laptop with relatively low cost. Dell isn’t known to have great build quality, however, we take advantage of its return policy and we bought last week, so we have test drive time. By my experience, sometime, you maybe unlucky and get a Dell laptop with uncertain and would not last you four years. However, if you tested and used it for awhile no issue found, it means you are lucky you got a good one and will last you four years.
The Thinkpads have good quality, but will cost you significantly more than the others.
Consider your personal situation thoroughly and hope you can found the best laptop for you!
Laptop Bag
External Hard Drive
Back up your files! Otherwise, your important work(data) could be lost.
Flash Drive
Flash Drive
You may use this to download information from your school’s computer, and vice-versa. Keep copies of your current assignments on the flash drive so your work is always available to you and backed up.
My son is planning to attend an Engineering College Next year, I have been researching, and do not agree that the first thing you need is to decide your budget–NO, the first thing you need is to know what sort of computer does the school of engineering require. Virginia Tech for example, requires a convertible Laptop/Tablet and sets out specifications–Liberty university has this on their webpage: Laptop Computer Requirements for 2011-2012
Please note that the laptop computer requirements for the School of Engineering & Computational Sciences are different from the general University. All Freshmen and Transfer Engineering students entering Fall 2011, or Spring 2012 are required to meet the minimum laptop computer requirements.
Hi Charles,
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I agree with you that you need to know what sort of computer does the school of engineering require. Each school may have different requirement. However, for most of the family, budget is still a issue. In addition, technology is advancing in a very rapid pace. I think we need to consider all of the factors.