Best Laptops for Engineering Students

Laptops have certainly become essential for those studying at a university to work on academic projects. For those studying business courses, standard-featured laptops are appropriate, as students do not have to work much on heavy software and require a lot of memory capacity. On the other hand, if there is a laptop requirement for students from the engineering domain, the devices should be highly powered with a performance processor, sufficient storage in the hard drive, solid software, and other such facilities. This is because engineering students have to deal with projects such as extensive graphic designing, coding and programming, audio editing, and other tasks; all of which demand a solid technical configuration. Note that since high-end gaming laptops have somewhat similar functions that are required for engineering use, they can be considered as substitutes for engineering laptops.

Toshiba Satellite A665-3DV12X

• Processor Type: Intel Core i7-2630QM
• Screen: 15.6-inch 3D widescreen
• Processor Speed: 2 GHz
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 750 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M
• Price: $1,600
• Others: Battery backup up to 5.2 hrs, NVIDIA 3D VISION Kit

Apple MacBook

• Processor Type: Intel Core 2 Duo
• Screen: 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen
• Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
• RAM: 2 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 250 GB
• Graphics Card: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 320M
• Price: $1000
• Others: 7-hour battery backup, glass multi-touch trackpad

Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q882

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-450M
• Screen: 18.4-inch widescreen
• Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz (up to 2.67 GHz with Turbo Boost)
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 500 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M
• Price: $1,200
• Others: Up to 3.77 hrs of battery power, touch pad with multi-touch

Sony VAIO C Series

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-2540M
• Screen: 15.5-inch LED Backlit Full HD
• Processor Speed: 2.60 GHz (up to 3.30 GHz with Turbo Boost)
• RAM: 4 GB
• Hard Drive Capacity: 320 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB AMD Radeon HD 6630M Hybrid Graphics
• Price: $900
• Others: Electrostatic Touchpad (Multi Finger), backlit keyboard, battery backup of up to 4.5 hours

Acer Aspire AS5745DG-3855

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-450M
• Screen: 15.6-inch HD CineCrystal LED-backlit
• Processor Speed: 2.40 GHz (up to 2.66 GHz in Turbo Boost)
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 500 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M Graphics
• Price: $1,000
• Others: NVIDIA 3D Vision Technology with glasses, multi-gesture touchpad

Gateway NV79C50u

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-460M
• Screen: 17.3-inch Ultrabright HD
• Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz (up to 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost)
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 500 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB ATI Radeon HD 5650
• Price: $850
• Others: Battery life up to 3.6 hrs, multi-gesture touchpad

Dell XPS 15

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5 2520M
• Screen: 15.6-inch HD WLED
• Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB
• Hard Drive Capacity: 640 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce GT525M
• Price: $1,150
• Others: High-fidelity JBL speakers with Waves MaxxAudio 3 technology

HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-560M
• Screen: 17.0-inch LED-backlit anti-glare
• Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 320 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB ATI FirePro M7820
• Price: $2,000
• Others: Spill-resistant keyboard, touchpad with gesture support, battery life up to 3.30 hrs

Lenovo ThinkPad W510

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5-560M
• Screen: 15.6-inch HD AntiGlare
• Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
• RAM: 2 GB
• Hard Drive Capacity: 320 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M
• Price: $1,300
• Others: OpenGL-certified graphics solutions, optional multi-touch panel

MSI FX603-019US

• Processor Type: Intel Core i5
• Screen: 15.6-inch TFT-LCD
• Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
• RAM: 4 GB DDR3
• Hard Drive Capacity: 500 GB
• Graphics Card: 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
• Price: $950
• Others: MSI GPU Boost technology, multi-touch touchpad, touchpad-disable button

These are just the basic technical specifications of the top ten laptops for college students in the engineering field. The specifications may change as per the package or configuration you choose, which may also change the approximate prices mentioned above. Some retailers and showrooms also offer cool laptop deals for college students, which you can avail. You can even get free laptop accessories in such offers. Hopefully, looking at the features and specifications, you might have got a general idea as to what type of laptop is good for a student of engineering.