Hi all,

My son is starting college in the fall and we're looking for a laptop for him. He will be studying for an robotics engineering technology degree (a blend of electrical and mechanical specializing in intelligent robotics). We have spoken with a few engineering professors and they do not have any firm requirements or recommendations for a student's laptop other than it must be Windows.

We've also researched the college website and found a few "approved vendors" that offer discounts to students, and the college provides enhanced IT technical support if you purchase through them. The vendors include Dell and CDW, so we will likely purchase through one of those. The college also offers Microsoft Office 365 for free to all students.

He doesn't anticipate the need to run any CAD software because they have that available in the campus computer labs. He is, however, what I'd call a "lightweight gamer" and was planning on bringing his current desktop (even though it's not all that great) for that. This laptop is NOT intended as a gaming machine. It would just be nice to use it for both purposes if possible. His current desktop he's used through high school is definitely not a gaming machine. It's just a normal Dell with a slightly upgraded video card. That's all.

I was thinking there's a good chance we could find a decent deal on a laptop for all his academic needs that could also be way better than his current desktop for leisure activities. I was wondering what specific makes and models you'd recommend. I've read through a few online "best college laptops of 2019" websites like CNET and LaptopMag, etc. The Dell XPS 13 repeatedly is mentioned as a highly recommended.

I'm thinking something with a decent display, at least 256GB SSD drive, 16GB RAM, i5 or i7 processor, video card, HDMI output for external monitor, lots of USB ports, etc. What other considerations should we think about? I'd like this laptop to last all 4 years of college. I just got an HP ZBook with a i7 at work and wow thats nice, but not sure he needs something like that.

Price range? Maybe around $1K give or take. Some options below and above that would be good. Thanks for any help you can provide!

Chris

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris17404,

My current work machine is a Dell Latitude E7440
i7 proc, 16gb ram, swapped in an SSD. Running Win10 Pro.
Wouldn't use it for any gaming, onboarding graphics & small screen preclude that. But the performance is good, usually have quite a lot running at work.

My boss is on a Latitude 5580, similar specs, but larger screen & 10key.

Razer Blade. You need more than a $1k budget to really do laptop gaming with discrete graphics.

Ensure he has something to backup all of his school work, and does so on a regular basis.

My son just graduated college a couple months ago. This is what I did when he was headed to school for his International Business degree.

1 - Do not equip the laptop to game. If he wants to game let him do it on a console (i.e. Xbox, Playstation).
2 - Focus on a business class laptop. They;re far more robust/durable than the consumer quality units (i.e. Dell XPS).
3 - Buy a laptop that is user upgradeable. We bought my son a refurb'd Dell Latitude business class machine (although my refurb'd Lenovo T450 would have worked out just as well) and upgraded the HDD to a SSD, and moved the HDD to the CD/DVD drive bay to act as a backup drive.
4 - If you want to run an external monitor (and keyboard/mouse) both Dell and Lenovo offer docking stations. I bought one for my son to use and it made attaching and detaching the laptop much easier.

Four years later, my son is still using his Dell Latitude, and though a bit long in the tooth, its still serving him well. Good luck to you and your son.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Ensure he has something to backup all of his school work, and does so on a regular basis.

As noted in the initial post, the ops son will have a free copy of MS Office to use entitling him to 1TB of OneDrive space. If the ops son config's his Office apps to default to Autosave and backup to OneDrive, he'll be good to go.

The timing of your post is uncanny. Approximately 4 hours before your post, I ordered my son a new laptop for college. He is an entering Freshman majoring in Mechanical Engineering and his area of interest is robotics.

His department had some general recommendations:
- Windows 10
- 16 GB RAM (minimum)
- Dedicated graphics w/ 4GB RAM

Back in the Spring, the recommended laptops available through the school had the following in common:
- 15.6" display
- 2.2 to 2.6 GHz Intel 6-core i7 (8750H or 8850H)
- 16 GB RAM
- NVIDIA Quadro P1000 w/ 4GG DDDR5
- Minimum 512GB hard drive (mix of SSD and old-school platter drives)

It sounds like you're on the right track. You definitely want to get a solid-state drive as you specified.

Access to support is important, but as previously mentioned, utilizing cloud storage will mitigate exposure. I would not store personal information in "the cloud", but work related to general school assignments would not be of concern. If the laptop did fail, then the school likely has lab equipment that could access the cloud storage.

Good advice on laptops in previous posts. Regardless of laptop, two items to consider:
1) Anti-Virus - the laptop will be on a college campus on wi-fi, need I say more.
2) External Storage - you can buy 4 terabytes of storage for under $100, cheap insurance (if he uses it).

Strongly recommend a docking station. New docking stations aren't like the old ones where you physically dock the laptop onto it.

They are just a small box, mine with a USB-C cable that goes to my laptop and transfers the video/audio and controls for my external monitor/Keyboard/Mouse.

The specs above look good, but I'd second the idea of getting one with a 256-512 GB SSD main/OS drive with extra 1TB+ spinner already in it.

The SSD provides super fast boot and program running, while the extra drive is slower, but offers a place to save all of the data files (documents, vids, and other junk) that don't need fast access.

I second the notion of the business-class platforms and docking stations. I have been a Lenovo ThinkPad user since the days when they were made by IBM. Lenovo still produces physical docks while the trend is moving to USB-C docks. Haven’t checked Dell options but Lenovo jut released the ThinkPad X1 Extreme which offers the option of two onboard hard drives along with 32 GB RAM and 4 GB video.

The main drawback I have seen has been in the inability of some software to be able to address and utilize the amount of RAM available - this gripe is mostly pointed at MS Office - especially Excel.

Keep in mind that educational expenses can be written off when you prepare your taxes.

Michael

A few years back, I got my son a Lenovo Thinkpad P50 laptop spec'd for CAD stuff for his engineering studies. Has an Intel Xeon processor, 1 TB SSD drive, 32 g ECC RAM, top of the line video card setup (forgot which one). It is incredibly fast, heavy duty in tackling all tasks thrown at it. He loves the laptop, and it still more than satisfies him.

Personally I would look at a Dell XPS. Like cars, I over do it with computers. I’d go with an i7 processor and no less than 16gigs of ram.

A MacBook Pro is nice. I have one and it’s so fast, but being that I’m a windows guy, everything feels clunky and difficult. If he is comfortable with a Mac, and the programs are Mac compatible, then they are the way to go.
If there are unknowns, go with a Dell.
I have bought all my Dells from the factory outlet. Never once had an issue and they have been great. Comes with a great warranty and a significant discount.

Here are two that I would definitely consider for your application.

Dell 13”

Dell 15”

I should have also mentioned, getting a smaller/lighter laptop can be advantageous. It’s a pain in the ass to carry around a big heavy one. I rarely took my work laptop with me when I worked for Harbor. It was a Lattitude 15”. At some point I inherited the CEO’s hand me down. It was a really nice Asus, weighed almost nothing and was super thin. Easily fit into whatever I was carrying, be it a man-purse, or a backpack. Took it everywhere with me after that.

As mentioned before, he’s going to college. If he wants to game, use an Xbox. Don’t game on the work machine. Use the work machine for work.

Also a solid state external hard drive. Back everything up daily, without fail, ever.

I've had good luck at the Lenovo Outlet Store.
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/o...us/laptops/c/LAPTOPS

my daughter is a first year engineering student, we had the same dilemma. We purchased her a Lenovo X1 Carbon (latest model) its light to carry around, packed with power out of the box and we bought it at costco and extended the warranty for $100 - its covered for all 4 years.....

Thanks for all the replies so far. I appreciate it. I've been doing a lot more research online, and we went to a local BestBuy to get a feel for what he thinks he'd need and like. He definitely prefers a 15" display with a 2-in-1 touch screen so it can be used as a tablet as well. This capability seems great for taking notes and converting them to a text document as well as taking math notes and converting to real equations/formulas that can be solved in OneNote. BestBuy showed us the Microsoft Surface Book 2's which seemed very nice, but my son also really liked the HP Spectre x360 with 16GB RAM, 1T SSD, graphics card, and the 4K OLED touch screen. (They had a 1-day-old open box for $200 off). We were mesmerized by the video quality, and were thinking this could double as his TV and entertainment as well, even though recommendations here suggested keeping the laptop just for school work, which I tend to agree with. I just want quality and reliability, yet I understand the ergonomics and feel of a laptop are considerations as well. I hear there are some deals starting soon so I need to keep my eyes peeled.

Chris

I've personally used Dell and Lenovo laptops at work and at home, and without any hesitation, I'll suggest the keyboards of the Lenovo laptops are best in class, especially those in the Thinkpad line. I also think a 14" screen is truly the sweet spot in terms of size and weight.

Microsoft Surface. An excellent tablet and an excellent laptop.

If you go Dell, consider the refurbished units.

Checks all requirements, plus capable of light gaming and video. $1290. Same warranty as brand new one.
XPS 15 - 9575 2-in-1

Intel Core 8th Generation i7-8705G Processor (Quad Core, Upto 4.10GHz, 8 MB cache, 65W)
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
512GB PCIe M.2 NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive
16GB 2400Mhz DDR4
15.6inch FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge Anti-Reflective Touch IPS 100% sRGB 400-Nits display
AMD Radeon RX Vega M Graphics
Silver - LCD Back Cover (Touch)

Hey guys... I just saw that Lenovo is coming out with the new P53s and P43s laptops targeted directly at STEM college students. The specs look great. They're supposed to be out in June/July. Anyone hear an anything about a release date? I'm currently considering one of these or a ThinkPad X1 Yoga since my son would really like the 2-in-1 tablet functionality.

https://www.laptopmag.com/arti...53s-p43s-price-specs

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/l...p/P53S/p/22WS2WPP53S

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/l...p/P43s/p/22WS2WPP43S