The Engineer Ultimate Guide For Buying A Laptop

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Buying a laptop is difficult, especially if you are an engineer. Ideally, you will be looking for something fast to run the programs you need without lags or breaking the bank. The issue is that there are so many choices, and finding the best laptop for your need can be a difficult task. Luckily this post will give you all the information you need to buy a laptop and recommend the best laptops currently on the market.

From our studies, we found that the best laptop for any engineer must contain at least the following specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5/ Core i7 or AMD Ryzen R5/ R7 Processor
RAM: Minimum of 16 GB of RAM
SSD: Minimum of 256 GB of storage
Battery life: Minimum of 10-12 hours of battery life
Graphic Card (GPU): The integrated GPU option was found to be okay for most engineers; however, for the engineers who wanted more power for design software, the RTX series (RTX 2060 or higher) was the best choice.
Screen Size: A 14-inch screen was the ideal size
Operating System: Windows laptop was more favourable due to its ability to run all the programs most engineers need.
Laptop Weight: 1.8 Kg or 4 lbs was the most optimal weight for most engineers
Touch Screen: Was not found to be a necessary option, but it’s good to have

Laptop Specs for Engineers

Specs	Requirements
*Processor (CPU)*	*Intel Core i5/ Core i7 or AMD Ryzen R5/ R7*
*RAM*	*16 – 32 GB*
*Storage* (SSD)	*256 GB or higher*
*Battery Life*	*Minimum of 10-12 hours*
*Dedicated Graphic Card (GPU)*	*RTX 2060 or higher if required*
*Screen Size*	*14-inch*
*Operating System*	*Windows Or MAC (Depending on the Software Used)*
*Laptop* Weight	1.8 Kg or 4 lbs
*Touch Screen*	*Optional choice – Usually not needed*

If you are still an engineering student, the laptop requirements are slightly different compared to actual engineers. The following are two resources for buying a laptop for engineering students:

If the above was a lot to unpack, below is a detailed explanation of all the above. When someone is in the market for a laptop, they are often upsold to the most expansive and overkill specs for their needs. Below explain each one in detail and help you pick the best laptop tailored to your needs, whether you are a civil engineer, mechanical engineer, Software engineer, field engineer, design engineer, electrical engineer or project engineer.

Use the table to navigate.

Table of Contents

The Top 9 Things To Look For In A Laptop As An Engineer

We asked hundreds of engineers to tell us the laptop they use daily, what options it has and what type of engineering they do.

Based on those results, we found the top 9 things to look for in a laptop as an engineer. Initially, we thought that the higher the specs, the better for engineers; however, things such as portability and battery life were more important than a chunkier laptop that is difficult to carry.

The below will make you an expert in laptop picking in 10 minutes or less.

1- The processor is the most important thing for engineers

The processor is the brain of your computer. The better it is, the more multitasking you can get from your laptop. Based on the engineer’s use, we found that less than a Core i5 or Ryzen 5 will not be very beneficial for any type of engineer. On the other hand, Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 or higher was the best value as it offers a comprehensive package of speed, multitasking and running heavy design programs.

This table explains all:

Processor (CPU) Type	Description	Suitable For
Intel Core i5 / AMD Ryzen 5	Suitable for any Engineer who does not need to run anything heavier than Microsoft Office programs and online browsing	– Project Engineers – Site Engineers – Field Engineers – Project Managers
Intel Core i7 / AMD Ryzen 7	Engineers who want more power for multitasking and using heavy design and modelling programs	– All of the above – Data Analysts – Design Engineers – Structural Engineers – Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Electrical Engineers – Software Engineers – Chemical Engineers
Intel Core i9 / AMD Ryzen 9	This is probably overkill for most engineering use. However, this is suitable for those that want more productivity, multitasking and the ability to run programs that require high processing power	– Design Engineers – Specialised Engineers – Software Developers – R&D Engineers – Manufacturing Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Robotic Engineers – Megatronic Engineers

Intel Vs Ryzen

From our testings and benchmarks, we found that both processors from Intel and AMD, when compared for close or similar clocking speed (Such as Intel Core i7 with Ryzen 7), performed very well when using both average and heavy engineering programs.

In general, especially in the past, Intel processors have been very reliable when compared to AMD processors when running engineering programs. However, recently and especially in the last 5 years, we found it very difficult not to recommend AMD processors. AMD has been innovating in this space for a while and has matured very well compared with Intel, not just in processing power and multitasking but also in price.

After comparing several laptops in the market that offer both Intel and AMD processing power, we found that laptops with AMD chips are around $84 cheaper when compared to laptops with Intel chips.

In the past (10 years ago), AMD chips were usually less efficient when running some design software, especially CAD programs. However, recently and with our testing, we found that AMD ran very smoothly and sometimes more efficiently compared to Intel.

If you are confused about the CPU lingo, below is a quick crash course about computer CPUs that will make you an expert in seconds. If you know what I am talking about, you can skip to the next section.

Crash course on CPUs

The computer processing unit or CPU speed is gauged in clocking speed, measured in GHz. The higher the clocking speed, the quicker it can process data. Therefore, a processor with 3 GHz is faster than 2.4 GHz. Every computer chip will have several processing cores that give an output processing power measured in GHz.

However, that is not everything. Any processor comes with physical and virtual cores, also known in the industry as hyperthreading; those cores help with multitasking. You need to know that processor cores are not equal to the naming; this is just confusing marketing names by those companies. For example, Core i5 does not mean it has only 5 cores, and Ryzen 7 does not mean it has 7 cores; it could be more or less.

You can find out the core number and the clocking speed by going to your task manager. For this example, we have 3.3 GHz speed and 4 physical cores with 4 virtual cores, which give you 8 logical cores.

The more cores, the more the laptop is suitable for designing and running heavy programs. For you as an engineer, a computer with multiple cores (4 and above) is suitable.

If you find the above confusing, just stick to the latest generation of those processors out in the market, as they are usually the best of the best.

2- Do not get less than 16 GB of RAM

RAM is the active memory that works hand in hand with your processor to help you run programs and multiple tabs on your browser. Here is the secret: engineers need high RAM for multitasking to run programs, open several documents and excel sheets and browse the internet. The RAM help keep those high volumes of search tabs and programs running without crashing or freezing your computer. Simply the higher the RAM, the better.

RAM Capacity	Description	Suitable For
16 GB of RAM	This is the best choice for engineers, and it can do almost anything.	Suitable for Any Engineer with no exceptions
32 GB of RAM	If your work requires rendering graphics or running heavy programs, then this option is for you.	Any engineer – Optional upgrade
64 GB of RAM	Usually, it is not required and is a very overkill option. Also, the options are very limited when it comes to buying a laptop with 64 GB of RAM.	Unless specifically required, it is not necessary.

From our studies, we found it difficult to recommend anything less than 16 GB of RAM. Why? Because running your operating system takes at least a third of that RAM, leaving you with 10 or 12 GB in the best cases. Most programs these days generally tend to take more RAM due to the level of sophistication and graphic processing. Most internet browsers, such as Google Chrome, take more RAM the more tabs it has open.

Therefore, anything less will definitely give you a hard time. In fact, if you can afford to go above 16 GB to 32 GB, the outcomes are even better as you can not have enough multitasking power.

3- A storage of 256 GB will be okay for most engineers

Here is the thing computer memory is not relevant these days. Why? Most design outputs are not very heavy in size; they might require heavy computation when running them hence why you need a good CPU and RAM, but the final product does not take a lot of space. In addition, there are always cloud storage options, so you will never have to worry about storage.

Storage Capacity	Description	Suitable For
256 GB of Storage	Any Engineer in general, especially those who store things on the cloud	Any type of engineer, no matter what is the background
512 GB of Storage	Engineers who design and analyse things and deal with large files	– Design Engineers – Structural Engineers – Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Electrical Engineers – Software Engineers – Chemical Engineers – Data Analysts – Specialised Engineers – Software Developers – R&D Engineers – Manufacturing Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Robotic Engineers – Megatronic Engineers
1TB+ of storage	Anyone if they deal with large files	Anyone – Optional choice

However, you should not cheap out and get something like 128 GB if somehow you found it in the market! Your operation system will probably need 25% of it, leaving you with little to work with. 256 GB will be the best option to get. If you can afford to go higher to 512 GB or even 1 TB and not break the bank, it can be more beneficial over the long run. Most laptops these days are hard to upgrade to more storage or not upgradeable.

If you find yourself in need of more storage, cloud options such as Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive are the best options to store all your documents. Cloud storage options are also the safest option as your files will never be damaged or corrupted compared to storing things on a hard drive HD or Solid State Drive SSD.

However, if you are an old school, Check our recommendation of the best Portable SSD to buy on Amazon.

What storage type to get

As for the type of storage, you should not worry too much about this. Any new laptop will either have a solid-state drive (SSD) or M.2 SSD, which are slightly faster than the conventional SSD. The storage speed will not affect your computer speed as much, so you should not focus too much on storage type compared to the other specs.

4- A full-day battery life is a must these days

Simply put, just get a laptop with at least 10 hours of battery life, with 12 being the best option you can get. Most laptops nowadays can offer a range of 10-12 hours, with some can go up to 16 and 18 hours of battery life. Our recommendation is that the longer the battery life, the better.

Battery Life	Description	Suitable For
10-14 Hours of Battery Life	Engineers who work from home or the office. These are the least mobile engineers and do not have to travel anywhere.	– Design Engineers – Structural Engineers – Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Electrical Engineers – Software Engineers – Chemical Engineers – Data Analysts – Specialised Engineers – Software Developers – R&D Engineers – Manufacturing Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Robotic Engineers – Megatronic Engineers
14-16 Hours of Battery Life	Engineers who travel a lot and sometimes work in remote areas or on-site.	– Project Engineers – Site Engineers – Field Engineers – Project Managers
16+ Hours of Battery Life	For engineers who are very mobile and use heavy programs	– Project Engineers – Site Engineers – Field Engineers – Project Managers

As a rule of thumb, engineers’ computer usage is usually 3-4 hours less than manufacturer recommendations.

The manufacturer will test the battery’s performance in ideal conditions. This means running light programs on low brightness; this is why you should avoid laptops with low battery life because it usually will give you less than recommended. For example, an 8 hours battery life might only give you 5 hours on a single charge depending on your usage.

Moreover, for any computer you buy, the battery will be the first thing that degrades. Because they are lithium batteries, which means their capacity degrades with every charging cycle. For example, if you can get a 10-hour battery life, it will degrade to 8 or 7 in a few years.

5- Dedicated Graphic Card is necessary if you are a designer

An integrated graphics is a graphic processing unit built into the processor that shares the processor memory. In contrast, a dedicated graphics card or Graphics processing unit (GPU) is a hardware unit built into the PC with its own memory. And as the name suggests, it deals with graphics. Design engineers will most likely require a dedicated graphics card if they require a lot of graphic processing.

For most engineers, a dedicated graphics card will not be necessary since most CAD and design software are well optimised to run well if you have a good CPU and RAM. In most cases, processing will take a bit longer with an integrated graphics card for design software, but it will not be an issue.

Graphic Card	Description	Suitable For
Integrated Graphic Card	This graphic card is integrated into the CPU and comes as standard in most Intel and some AMD processors. The integrated GPU share RAM with the CPU.	This option is usually suitable for most engineers, even the ones who run design software. Especially suitable for: – Project Engineers – Site Engineers – Field Engineers – Project Managers
Nivida GTX Series: 1060/10701080 Radeon RX 480 / RX 580	This is an entry-level GPU. Current generation integrated graphics should be able to outperform any of those graphic cards in terms of engineering use.	Should avoid
Dedicated Graphic RTX 2000 Series: 2060/2070/2080	This mid-range option is suitable for engineers who need more power to render graphics and use heavy design software.	Suitable for any engineer, especially designers: – Structural Engineers – Civil Engineers – Geotechnical Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Electrical Engineers – Software Engineers – Chemical Engineers – Data Analysts – Specialised Engineers – Software Developers – R&D Engineers – Manufacturing Engineers – Mechanical Engineers – Robotic Engineers – Megatronic Engineers
Dedicated Graphic RTX 3000 Series: 3060/2070/2080 Radeon RX 6000 series: 6600/6700/6800	This is the high-end range and suitable for anyone who needs the highest speed for graphic processing.	Suitable for anyone

A laptop with a dedicated graphics card can run more complicated programs, such as software that render graphics and design software that require high graphic processing. However, the huge tradeoffs are expensive and chunky laptops as those graphic cards require lots of cooling and consume more battery life than integrated graphics laptops.

One of the biggest misconceptions: is that engineers need a laptop with dedicated graphic cards. The truth is you do not. While yes, having a dedicated graphics card is good if you do graphic design and run graphics-heavy software such as CAD software.

Certainly, you can run the vast majority of programs just fine with an integrated graphic. Most integrated graphics like the intel Iris graphic can process graphics just fine without spending more money on a dedicated graphics card. Computer processors have evolved enough to deal with heavy graphics with at least 16 GB of shared RAM and Core i7 or AMD R7.

If you must get a graphic card, do not get anything less than 4 GB of dedicated graphics memory, as less would not make much difference compared to just spending the money to get a better processor like Core i7 or AMD R7. Nvidia is usually the best when it comes to graphic cards with its Nvidia GeForce RTX Series. Therefore, anything at or above RTX 2060 is generally very good for a laptop.

6- Operating system Windows VS Mac, which to get?

Everyone has a preference when it comes to PCs. Some prefer Mac, and others prefer Windows. Unfortunately, the programs you use as an engineer dictate which operating system to choose. Therefore, before buying a laptop, you should find out what software you will use and what operation software they are available on.

As unrealistic as it might seem, it is true. Windows has pretty much every engineering software for any discipline. Windows is more open than Mac OS, which means you can install more apps than a Macbook. Moreover, some engineering software, such as CAD software, will have a Mac version that can be slightly different from the windows one, making it difficult to use.

This should not stop you from getting a Macbook if you are invested in the ecosystem. There is always a workaround for software that is not available on Macbook. Such as installing windows on MacBook. This is how you can get Windows on your MacBook.

7- Size and portability are very critical for most engineers

Our study found that engineers favoured portability over performance. It is true that the higher the specs of the laptop, the more expensive it becomes. However, it also becomes heavier, chunkier and bigger, making it less portable and consuming more power.

This is why you should consider getting something light and small. Luckily those laptops are available readily, and some with quite attractive prices. We recommend anything less than 4 lbs or 1.8 kg for maximum portability.

As for the dimensions, the 14-inch screen offers the best combination of portability and screen real estate. However, a 13-inch screen is also a good choice if you want something very light. In comparison, 15-inch offers the best screen real estate with portability. Anything above 15-inch, such as 16 or 17-inch, becomes less portable as they become heavy and altogether hard to fit in a backpack.

Engineers’ work is very dynamic, which means one day you will be working in the office, the next will be in a meeting on the opposite side of the city, and one day you will just be working on site. The unpredictability of the work environment for some engineers requires a more reliable option that can give you more battery life with ease of use and portability.

8- Touch screens & 2in1 are good to have but not essential

It does not matter if your laptops have all the bells and whistles; as long as it has the basic functions, you are good to go. A laptop might have a touch screen it can rotate 360 degrees and comes with a pen. Some have non of that, and still, they will do just fine. Most of your time on this laptop as an engineer will not relate to any of these feathers, so do not feel pressured to get all those extra additions that will cost you more money and will not be used as much.

In our opinion, if you have some extra bucks to spare, get a laptop with higher specs, such as more RAM and a better processor. This will make a significant difference to the computer’s performance ability.

However, we feel that getting a better screen resolution is probably the best thing you can do if you have more money to spend. High resolution is good for the eyes, especially with extra dimming options; a 1440p is probably the most affordable option currently and way better than a 1080p screen.

As for the touch screen, it would not make much difference to your experience, and most likely, you will find yourself rarely using it. Macbooks are not touch screens, but they are very successful. It is just the cherry on top if you get it with the laptop but absolutely not essential.

9- Always buy the latest, the newer the better

Always buy the latest in the market. Even if you find an older model with what seem to be higher specs, it will not be as well last the latest in the market. Second-hand laptops might be cheap, but they will do you more harm than good as an engineer.

The main reason to avoid second-hand laptops is that computer processing performance tends to degrade with time and become slower. This has nothing to do with the manufacturer or the laptop specs. This is something that happens to all computers.

Also, the battery performance tends to degrade, as mentioned earlier. And you do not want a low battery life laptop. Finally, the screen resolution and the visual system also tend to degrade after a while. The screen is made of pixels that usually burn out after long use, and you end up with dead pixels that can affect the quality of the screen. Overall, buying second-hand is not a good deal once you factor in all the above.

Top 10 Laptop To Buy Now For Engineers 2022

If you went through the above, you should know enough to pick the best laptop for you. The following are our picks for the best laptop you can buy now in the market that offers the best value between price, power, speed and portability: