2025 laptop recommendation for engineering student?

I could not find a recent post about this so I was wondering if the suggestions have changed. I am looking for a laptop for an incoming freshman chemical engineering student. I looked at the website for the school for the recommended features which appear to be the same for most of the engineering school websites I looked at. I know the Dell XPS 15 was very popular in previous posts, but Dell discontinued that line and the cost of that particular laptop feels really high. Those of you who have recent engineering students, may I know what laptop you purchased for them and whether they are satisfied with that purchase? Thank you in advance.

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My chem e used a Dell 2 in 1. She liked being able to write notes on the screen with a stylus instead of typing during lectures. She liked it so much that she bought a second one after graduation.

Be sure to check with the school directly to see if they have any recommendations. For my D’s school, they specifically recommended PCs over Macs. Your chem e will need to be able to run ASPEN on their laptop and if I recall, there were some issues with installing it on Macs (but again, check with the school).

I’m definitely looking for a Windows based one over a Mac. So thank you for that.

My ChemE uses a Lenovo Legion. We got it at Costco during a sale. She’s happy with it, and it can do and run everything she’s needed, so far. The only downside is that it is pretty heavy as laptops go.

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We bought that top of the line of whatever Costco had and used the Costco CC, which at that time had an extra year extended warranty included in the purchase price. S used that computer until it stopped working and the CC paid to have it evaluated and determined that it was un-repairable and refunded us our money during extra year of extended warranty. S then bought a small little tablet and 2 monitors and a desktop which he found more useful for his EE studies. When he moved, he sold the monitors. It worked for him.

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I recently helped a friend pick out a laptop for their engineering studies. We ended up going with the MacBook Pro 14" with the M1 Pro chip. It’s a bit on the pricier side, but the performance is solid, and it handles all the heavy CAD and simulation software with ease. Plus, the battery life is impressive, which is great for long study sessions or when they’re on campus all day.

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Make sure that you check with the University department first. Also, at my daughter’s school, they installed a security LoJack type of device. I think Costco is really good about working with vendors when it comes to security on your laptop.

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Sometimes the official department recommendation is out of date, or different from what students actually use in practice. When my engineering student was a freshman, we waited until school started before buying a new laptop for him, so that he could get advice from other students in his department. This was a good thing, because the department recommended PCs, while actual students mostly used Macs … and on top of that, he quickly ended up switching to a different major in which students pretty much universally use Macs.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12: Lightweight, powerful with an Intel i7 processor and a 14-inch OLED display. Ideal for portability and overall performance.

Thank you.

I was looking at Costco to potentially buy one. So thank you for that suggestion.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I’m not sure what current CC rules are on extended warranties for electronics. If this is important to you, check all your cards and use the one that gives you an extended warranty, because why not?

My D’s laptop literally burned the hard drive before the end of her extended warranty and she got a full refund as well. She was in cinema and also bought a small netbook (similar to a tablet with keyboard) that she used for notes and portability, and had 2 large monitors and a cpu in her dwelling.

CC rules & coverages change frequently so find out before you buy instead of assuming.

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