Top 10 Laptops for Engineering Students in 2023 – Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

Engineering students use their laptops for everything from studying to solving complicated mathematical equations. While all laptops can get the job done, they vary in price, portability, and durability. You’ll want a laptop that’s not too expensive but still has enough power to run a few programs at once.

You’ll be using it to take notes in class, do homework, look up engineering data, and send emails to professors, classmates, and other professionals in your field. When used properly, a laptop for an engineering student can make your life a lot easier and help you be more successful as a future engineer; be it for mechanical engineering, computer engineering, software, civil, electrical or chemical engineering.

You need to have the best engineering student laptops so you can access your assignments, coursework, exams, and tests online.  While having a laptop is essential to having a successful academic career, many wonder which laptop is best for engineering students.

Some great laptops are often overlooked by students in favor of picking the cheapest laptop. But, there’s a problem with that approach and it may leave you with buyer’s remorse. Never fear, that’s why we created this review of top laptops for engineering students along with a well needed buyer’s guide – after reading through you’ll be 100% confident in your buying decision!

Let’s take a look at our Top 3 laptops for engineering students and reviews of the most popular options. By the time we’re finished, you should have a much clearer picture of what you want from your laptop and what’s available.

• Durability is important because you don’t want your laptop to break down on you in the middle of a long assignment or presentation.
• Power is also important so you can run all those programs you will need to throughout the course of your degree.
• Lastly, longevity is important so that you don’t have to upgrade every few years. Let’s take a look at what’s available in the market and how they can fulfill these requirements with our list of top picks.

The HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 is one of the most powerful and the most exquisite laptops available, it is a real beauty – hence why it made 1st place in our list. It is convertible from a laptop to a tablet and has a 15.6-inch display with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels, an Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive, among other features. But what makes it one of the best laptops?

The Spectre x360 also features two USB-C ports and retains the classic USB-A ports. Not forgetting the Bang and Olufsen dual speakers that allow you to play your favorite music whilst you study engineering online.

When it comes to 2 in 1 laptops for engineering students, the Spectre x360 2-in-1 is an excellent choice for students who want a device that lets them take notes in class and then flips around to become a tablet for watching videos in their dorm room. The latest model is super slim, weighing in at just over 2 pounds, and it has a sleek aluminum design that looks professional but is also light enough to hold in your hand for long periods of time. It’s a great alternative to the MacBook Air, offering a sleek, premium design that sacrifices little in terms of performance.

In addition, its battery life is stellar, and it has a good-looking keyboard and touchpad, with a precision trackpad that is a pleasure to work with. The best part about the HP Spectre x360 is that it has a great price tag; it currently starts at just $1,000. If that isn’t enough reasons, I don’t know what is!

After hearing about the new Macbook Pro and its revolutionary design, you’re probably wondering why you should buy it.  You can rest assured that this computer will do everything that you need it to do, and more. 

You can use it for everything from software engineering to structural engineering to any kind of design and drawings.  You’ll be able to take your engineering degree to the next level and create your own work with this new and improved Macbook Pro.

The Macbook Pro offers the most powerful graphics and computing capabilities of the entire Mac product line. As such, it has a price tag to match, as well as a level of performance that is higher than the iMac or MacBook Pros that share its OS X operating system.

It is a powerful computer that is not as prone to viruses and is very stable, unlike Windows. It runs on a powerful Intel Xeon 5500 processor and provides up to three terabytes of storage, meaning you have plenty of space for your files.

Note: As far as running engineering software it won’t work with Revit, ANSYS, CATIA, Civil 3D, AutoCAD, MATLAB or SolidWorks (Mac versions are not available as yet). However, there is a workaround, which is to use something like Parallels to load Windows after partitioning your drive.

The Macbook Pro is one of the lightest laptops in its class. This is perfect for engineering students who are always on the go and prefer something that they can easily carry from class to class. Also, with its weight of 4.25 pounds and dimensions of 11.8 x 16.8 x 0.8 inches, it will comfortably fit into most backpacks. 

Engineering students will need a powerful computer science laptop which means the Macbook Pro is your best choice. Now you have many reasons to choose the Macbook Pro!

The Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop comes equipped with some of the best features available on the market. Notably, the display features a 144Hz refresh rate, which helps deliver a smooth gaming experience. We’ve listed it as the best laptop for computer engineering students.

The display is sharp and clear, and it works well for both gaming and movie viewing. As a bonus, the Helios 300 is relatively affordable for a gaming laptop under $1500 with these components. This device is simply put: a powerhouse gaming laptop that is also quite affordable considering its high-end components; so budget concious buyers take note.

The Predator Helios 300 comes equipped with an 8th generation Intel Core i7-8750H processor, which is one of the best processors available for laptops.  The processor is accompanied by 16GB of DDR4 RAM, which is more than enough for most users. The 256GB solid-state drive provides ample storage space for most users. It also boasts a GeForce GTX 1050Ti graphics card and has a strong cooling system.

Ultimately this is a powerful laptop that would be more than sufficient for work or play and at a lower price point than a Macbook Pro, which equally offers many reasons to buy it.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is Microsoft’s latest 2-in-1 laptop, complete with all of the software you need and a detachable keyboard that allows you to use the Surface Pro 7 in laptop, tablet, or stand modes.

The Surface Pro is designed to be a premium laptop first and a tablet second. Microsoft has always been at the forefront of offering high-end hardware. Now is no different. The Surface Pro 7 is lighter and thinner than previous Surface Pro devices but it still features a quality build and premium materials.

If you’re in college or graduate school, you’re going to need a quality laptop to keep you organized and on top of your work. The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the perfect laptop for engineering students because it provides all the power you need to complete complex assignments while being light enough to take with you wherever you need to go.

This is a very unique laptop. Its hardware is based on Windows 10 Pro, a 64-bit operating system. The new Surface Pro 7 is designed for the business professional or academic student but is great for the average consumer as well.

The Surface Pro 7 has a lightweight and powerful package to complete tasks easily either at home or on the go. It weighs 2.37 lbs and has a 12.3 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 2736 x 1824 pixels.

The device is available in four different colors: Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and Black. The Surface Pro 7 also features a 5MP front camera, as well as an 8MP rear camera.

The G5 15 is reasonably thin and light for a full-fledged gaming machine, with a 15.6-inch screen, a solid keyboard, and some decent speakers—all while not breaking the bank. The G5 15 5590 is loud and boisterous, but is it any good as a laptop?

Inside there’s an Intel Core i5-7300HQ processor, which is paired with 8 GB of RAM (this is a $300 upgrade option). The hard drive comes with a 1 TB capacity, and it’s easy to add additional storage thanks to the SD card slot.

The Dell G5 15 5590 has a gorgeous 15.6″ full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The G5 15 5590’s built-in 128 GB solid-state drive allows you to quickly access your files, programs, and saved games. 

The Dell Inspiron G5 15 5590 is a well-rounded laptop for both gaming and productivity. For business use, it has a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M graphics card, which means it will run workloads and programs more quickly than some other laptops, but it won’t handle newer games at ultra-high settings.

It’s a pretty solid laptop, but it does have a few problems. One of the first issues is the battery life. While the battery life is actually pretty good, it’s not as good as it should be. You can expect the battery life to be around 6 hours.

Dell is known for offering excellent value for money and the company’s latest laptop, the G5 15, is no exception.

The 15.6-inch G5 15 is the most affordable laptop in Dell’s G series range, and it offers a large screen, a powerful processor, and a generous amount of memory. The budget G5 15 is also one of the few laptops in its price range to offer an optical drive, which can be a useful addition for engineering students.

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is a dream come true for creative types. It’s a slim, lightweight laptop with a great screen and enough power for most editing tasks.  The Blade 15 is a particularly appealing option for students because it offers both long battery life and a powerful graphics card.  It’s also portable enough to slip into a backpack without making your bag feel like it weighs a ton.

Unlike many of its competitors, the Blade 15 is focused on delivering a lot of processing power in a compact and relatively lightweight package.

It is designed to withstand long and heavy use with its 3.8 lb frame that is made of CNC aluminum, and its strong heat dissipating capabilities that will allow you to game for hours on end without worrying about overheating issues.

As a laptop for engineering students, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is your top choice for a laptop that is portable, sleek and powerful. The black aluminum chassis gives this laptop a high-end look and the slim form factor of the laptop is perfect for carrying around campus. 

The powerful GPU in this laptop is backed by a speedy Intel Core i7-8750H processor, which easily handles everyday tasks. It also comes with all the ports you will ever need, including a Thunderbolt 3 port, two USB 3.1 ports, an Ethernet port, and an HDMI port.

The latest version has a matte black finish, with a great back-lit keyboard and a gorgeous display. While it’s one of the most powerful laptops you can buy, it comes with a hefty price tag of $3,899, which is nearly $1,000 more than the highest-end 2019 MacBook Pro. 

The Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition is a powerful workstation laptop, however, the relatively small size of the display can make certain tasks more difficult to accomplish. For instance, if you are a software engineer programming in the C++ language, while working on a large project, it can sometimes be difficult to see the entire outline of your code in the limited display area.

The Thinkpad X1 Extreme is a powerful laptop that adopts the durability and sturdiness of its predecessors, while also adding an additional layer of polish that doesn’t come with most laptops in this category.

It features an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, a 15.6-inch 4K display, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage space. It can be configured with an Nvidia GeForce 1050 graphics card, which is something that a lot of people will appreciate.

A lot of laptops are available on the market, but for engineering students, the most important thing is to have a laptop that can run the latest software, and that is affordable.  Not only is the ThinkPad X1 Extreme great for engineering students, but it is also great for business people, as it has a ton of features that will help you get things done.

The build quality is great and the X1 Extreme provides excellent performance. It comes with a lot of powerful features that make it a great choice, however, power often comes with a price (or a price tag to be exact).

When you buy a powerful device to assist your engineering studies like this one, you will pay more than you would for a regular laptop. This is something you should be aware of and take into consideration when deciding on whether or not to get the Thinkpad X1 Extreme.

The Thinkpad X1 Extreme is a solid machine with a lot of nice features, but it’s not for everyone. Because of its small battery, it’s not a great laptop for frequent travelers, and its high price means that it’s often not a good budget option. Although its battery does not last as long as some would like, the X1 Extreme does not overheat and maintains a sleek design. 

It’s also not a good choice for people who value a wide variety of ports and connectors, since the X1 Extreme is limited to two USB-C ports and a single full-size USB connector.

However, the X1 Extreme is a great laptop for people who need a workhorse to get their engineering studies done. It’s built for performance with build quality in mind. 

The Dell XPS 15 7590 offers a stunningly thin and light 15.6″ display in a laptop that’s just 0.6″ thick and weighs around 5 pounds.

A powerful 8th generation Intel Core processor and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card ensure that the XPS 15 can handle all your favorite games and programs, while an optional 4K Ultra HD touchscreen lets you watch movies and edit photos in crisp, crystal-clear detail.

An award-winning InfinityEdge display and virtually borderless InfinityEdge bezel mean more screen for your dollar, in a stunning design that’s nearly impossible to tell from a 4K screen.

The Dell XPS 15 7590 is one of the best laptops for engineers. It’s equipped with a quad-core 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor up to 2.8GHz that’s so powerful that it can handle most of the engineering-related tasks you throw at it.

For example, you can work on a few spreadsheets for work or play videos, surf the web, or watch movies without any lags or delays. It can also be used for photo and video editing and gaming, which is great for all engineering students.

In other words, it is a jack of all trades and master of most. The XPS 15 7590 has a very large sweet spot in the market, and it can be the right laptop for almost any business or student.

One of the things we really like about this laptop is that it has a really fast start-up time, under twenty seconds, which is really great for people who are always on the go. Another feature that we think is really great is the battery life, this thing can last up to ten hours, which is a lot longer than other laptops.

So, what are the downsides to this powerhouse laptop?

One of the biggest issues is that the XPS 15 is a little on the heavy side, weighing in at almost 5 pounds.

While some of this weight is due to the laptop’s high-quality construction, including the powerful internals, strong build quality, and attractive bezels, a few of the XPS 15’s best features aren’t always the best.

You should also know that it has a massive screen. While this means that working on it is a pleasure, it also means that you’ll need to keep it on a flat surface to avoid it from falling over.

The Lenovo Thinkpad P52s is, in our opinion, the best laptop for professionals who require a high-performance laptop. The Lenovo Thinkpad P52s laptop checks all the right boxes: “business ready” security features, durability, and the kind of performance that has made Lenovo Thinkpad laptops favorites among engineers for years.

While many laptops claim to be suitable for engineers, only a few of them deliver. The Lenovo Thinkpad P52s series, however, comes very close to a perfect work companion.

With a super-bright, 1080p display that’s ideal for spreadsheets and a keyboard that won’t wear against your fingers after long periods of typing, this is a laptop that will make you wonder why you even considered getting a desktop in the first place.

One of the best things about the P52s is that it has a removable battery so you can swap it out for a fresh one when it wears out, so you don’t have to carry around a power cord even when you’re on the road. 

The Lenovo Thinkpad P52s is a workhorse of a machine, offering a mind-boggling number of ports (including 2 x Thunderbolt 3 with PowerShare, 2 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x USB-C 3.1, 1 x micro SD card, 1 x HDMI, and 1 x mini DisplayPort).

The only mark against the Thinkpad P52s is the hefty price tag. A laptop is an essential tool for any engineering student, so it is not surprising that student and professional engineering laptops are a hot market.

While the latest Thinkpad P52s raises the bar on what a laptop can do, its $3,000 price tag makes it prohibitively expensive for many students. The average student is better off buying a less expensive laptop with a smaller screen.

At first glance, you might be tempted to think the ThinkPad P52s is a downgrade of its predecessor, the ThinkPad P52.

However, the P52s are a lot more than that. It’s a continuation of its predecessor, which was already a popular option among IT professionals. The P52s come with a lot of upgrades and improvements that will give you a better value for your money.

Asus has a reputation for making beautifully designed laptops, and this one is no exception. The Asus Zenbook 14 is Asus’s answer to laptops like the MacBook Air and Lenovo Yoga 730, a super-thin, lightweight ultrabook.

While the 14-inch screen isn’t as impressive as the 13-inch or 15-inch versions of laptops in this class, the Zenbook 14 still delivers solid performance and a great overall experience, particularly for its price point.

The 14-inch screen is large enough to get work done on the go, and the hinge allows you to open the screen to 180 degrees for watching movies or giving presentations. The screen is also a touchscreen, which helps when navigating Windows or using the included stylus. 

The laptop weighs less than three pounds, is less than 0.7-inches thick, and yet still manages to fit in an Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD, as well as a 1366 x 768 pixel display.

It has a good battery life that should allow you to get 6-8 hours of usage. It also has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera.

The Asus ZenBook UX430U is a great laptop for engineers looking for a small, lightweight, powerful laptop that looks good. At a glance, you might think the Zenbook 14 looks like every other ultrabook, but don’t be fooled; this is a powerful, feature-rich computer that’s more affordable than you might think for your budget.

The Zenbook 14 is designed for multimedia use. The display is one of the main selling points and features a full-HD display on both models, with a maximum brightness of 375 cd/m² and a contrast ratio of 1000:1. (The smaller model’s screen is only 1080p, however.) 

Overall, the Asus Zenbook 14 is a powerful laptop with a large screen that delivers a great multimedia experience. It also has a comfortable keyboard, a built-in fingerprint sensor, and plenty of ports. However, the Zenbook 14 does not have a great touchpad and the screen is very reflective.