Best size laptop for engineering major

J1772protocol
Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:24:25 +0000

My friend’s 15" T61 is definitely heavier than I’d want to carry around - somewhere on the order of 6 pounds I think. On the other hand, the 15" rMBP (just as an example) is around 4.5 lbs as I recall - still a moderately big machine in a backpack, but the weight isn’t bad.

I’ve been in those kinds of lecture halls before, and it looked like a 13" laptop would fit fairly well, while a 15" one would be a bit unwieldy. I know I want to take a computer to class (not for classes where I need to write equations or draw things though, like math equations or a schematic) - those should be much more efficient for subjects where I need to write a lot than writing by hand for me.

I’ve seen several dorms on college tours as well - nothing special, to be sure. (unless you’re talking about the new ones at UW - those are exceptionally nice, and not just by dorm standards)

I’ve tried 8 - I’m not a fan of the way they laid things out, but 8.1 helps - I’ve been dual-booting the beta with 7 on my netbook, and I don’t think I’ve booted into 7 for several months now. (Now that I think about it, I still haven’t loaded Office onto 8.1 either - I downloaded LO because that was faster, and haven’t actually needed Office yet. That is a secondary machine though.) They improved the DPI scaling in 8.1, but it’s still not optimal with multiple monitors of different DPIs - I’m a bit worried about that, and OS X does work a bit more smoothly in that regard. (though it’s a matter of 1X, 2X, or non-native unfortunately - and I can definitely tell)

@HImom Just wondering - what laptops did they have? I have very little to no interest in most cheap consumer laptops - it’s business laptops or premium consumer machines for me. I’ll pay extra for quality here.

For what it’s worth, I’m researching something for a class right now, and have 2 things side-by-side (web browser and a document) - this fits comfortably on my 1080p monitor. (which I will likely bring to college) I’ve tried this on 1600x900 before and it works, though not as comfortably. I can fit more in if I make the text smaller, but I’m not sure if I want that on 13". I could deal with it though. This is where the bigger size might come in handy. (That said, the fact that it won’t fit in a backpack or on a lecture hall desk as well, combined with the fact that hiDPI models probably cost more, is making me think about getting a 13" laptop.)

Just for the sake of mentioning it, I’m looking at hiDPI machines (definitely waiting for those), possibly with touch. (I wouldn’t mind having it, but it’s not absolutely crucial.) Whatever I get will have an SSD, or a 2.5" drive slot (which I will promptly put an SSD in). The Yoga 13 in particular piques my interest - I generally like the current model, though I don’t care one bit about the special hinge. (looks like the ativ book 9 is limited to 4GB RAM, period - that’s a dealbreaker - though the 2560x1440 ASUS is a consideration as well)