As an engineering student you might need a powerful laptop, but it depends on what engineering field you are studying. For most people a decent laptop that has fairly new parts will go a long way. A lot of engineering students also enjoy relaxing with a game or two, and if that is the case then have a look at a model with a decent GPU.
Below are three laptops that I think are among the best choices.
These laptops will also be good for most engineering students and professionals alike.
System Recommendations
These are the system recommendations that I believe apply to most engineers. If you are working in a field that would require a lot of computation, such as machine learning, then you might want to even go beyond the recommended specs. The same goes if you are doing things such as 3D modelling or something similar. Use your own judgement to decide which end of the spectrum your needs are on.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 9th gen i5 | 10th gen i7 or better |
| GPU | Nvidia GTX series | Nvidia RTX series |
| Storage | 256 GB | 512 GB or more |
| RAM | 8 GB | 16 GB or more |
You will find many laptops that meet the specs listed above, the only problem is which one to choose. You should be good as long as you get a laptop from a reputable manufacturer that meets the recommended specs above.
I have listed what I think are the best engineering laptops that meet these specs below.
Best Laptops for Engineering Students
Overall I think the Razer Blade 15 is a great option for most engineering students.
Razer Blade 15
The Razer Blade is among the best laptop for engineering students, and is definitely an option you should check out.
The Razer blade is a great overall laptop. It has the looks, it has the specs, and it is made by a reputable manufacturer so you can feel more comfortable that it has been put together right.
There are many things that I like about this laptop, one in particular is the bang for your buck that you get. It is not cheap, but for the price you get a brand new 10th generation Intel CPU, an RTX 2060 GPU, 512 GB SSD, and 16 GB of RAM. These are the kinds of specs you should bee looking for in a an engineering laptop.
The body of the laptop is high quality, and the thin bezels add to the already premium look.
The CPU, the amount of RAM, and the GPU are the features that make this a great laptop for engineering. Couple the specs with the price and that is why we have picked it as the best laptop for engineers.
Although there are CPUs with 8 cores available, the 6 that come in the i7-10759H are good enough for most. You can check out the MSI GS66 if you want something with even more power.
See the Razer Blade 15 on Amazon.
Acer Predator Helios 300
The Acer Predator is getting more and more powerful with each iteration. This laptop has fairly similar specs to the Razer Blade 15, making it a close contender, especially considering the price of the Helios 300. Definitely have a look at this laptop.
This laptop does not look as good as many of the others simply because of the corners. Although it is a gaming laptop, they don’t have to make it look like one. If this had the looks of the Razer Blade or the MSI GS66 then this would be so much better.
Despite the lacking looks, the parts are fantastic. You get an intel i7-10750H with 6 cores, an RTX 2060, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. If you don’t mind the gaming laptop look so much then this might be the best engineering laptop for you.
This laptop is a serious contender for the best option. it has great parts for a great price.
See the Acer Predator Helios 300 on Amazon.
MSI GS66 Stealth
The MSI GS66 Stealth is the most powerful laptop on this list. There are quite a few configurations for this laptop, and I did not pick the one with the best parts simply because most people will not need it. You should have a look at the various options though.
Not only is this one of the most powerful laptops, but is also thin and pretty light. They manage to pack in an Intel Core i9-10980HK with 8 cores, and an RTX 2070 Super Max-1 (2080 available). There is a 1 TB NVMe SSD and 32 GB of RAM. These are really nice specs, and if you are working or studying an engineering branch that require a lot of computation power then this is a great option.
The looks of this laptop is on par with the Razer blade. A black body with super thin bezels makes it look incredibly premium, which it is.
This laptop is also good for playing video games, considering the 300Hz refresh screen. This is not needed for engineering, but as many people in that field enjoy playing video games it might be an added bonus for some.
See the MSI GS66 Stealth on Amazon.
MSI GF65 Thin
The MSI GF65 is one of my favorite mid-level laptops, although it is getting heavy competition from the Acer Predator Helios. The main feature that the GF65 has over the Helios 300 is that it looks better. It has a cleaner look and less of a gaming feeling. That being said, the Helios 300 does have a better CPU than the GF65 which you should consider.
The MSI GF65 comes with the previous i7-9750 CPU which brings down the price a little. The CPU has been a staple in powerful gaming laptops for a long time so it is by no means a bad CPU even though the newer 10th generations ones are coming in. There is also an RTX 2060, 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB NVMe SSD.
One of the main things that I like about this laptop is how it caters to more than one market. It is a gaming laptop but you cant really tell from the looks. It also has a 120Hz screen which is good for gaming, but not as good as the one in the GS66 or the Helios 300, but it comes in pretty good on the price. Laptops usually make sacrifices in some areas to come down on price and investments in others to entice a target audience.
Overall the MSI GF65 is a great laptop which you should definitely consider.
See the MSI GF65 on Amazon.
Acer Aspire 
5
The 2020 model of the Acer Aspire is a pretty good option for many. It is not a powerful laptop if you compare it to some of the other laptops on this page, but it still has a 10th gen i5-1035G1 CPU, a Nvidia MX350 GPU, 8 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB MVMe SSD. These are pretty good specs for the price.
The GPU is nothing to write home about, but then again you don’t really need a GPU unless you are doing something like data science or play video games.
The Acer is one of my favorite budget options. The Aspire model has been around for a long time and is constantly delivering laptops that give a lot of value for your money.
The laptop also looks really good. It has a very thin body, but unfortunately only the side bezels are thin. The top one is not super thick, but the laptop would look a lot better with thin bezels all around.
If you are looking for a budget option then this is definitely a contender you should check out.
See the Acer Aspire on Amazon.
Dell Inspiron 15
The Dell Inspiron is another favorite of mine. The Inspiron model has been around for a long time, adn the 2020 edition comes packed with great parts for the price.
The laptop has a 10th generation Intel Core i7-1065G7, 8 GB of RAM, a 512 GB NVMe SSD, and the GeForce MX230 GPU. Again, the GPU is nothing to write home about, but if you don’t need one then you don’t have to pay for one. This is a great option for those who will not need the most powerful option.
The laptop looks really good, although the bezels could be smaller. The laptop is thin and has a good build quality.
If you are looking for a laptop that is more budget friendly then this is a good option. You should also check out the Aspire listed above as it is quite similar, but this option has an i7 CPU which is better.
See the Dell Inspiron on Amazon.
Acer Nitro 5
Another great budget option is the Acer Nitro 5. This is another laptop that looks like a gaming laptop, something that is not my favorite look. Despite that, it offers respectable parts for the price. There are also a few configuration options for you to check out.
The model that we picked has an Intel i5-9300H, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, 8 GB of RAM, and a 256 NVMe SSD. The CPU is not the most powerful, and there are better option for the rest of the specs too. What really is appealing about the Nitro 5 is the pricing point.
The laptop looks a lot like the Helios 300 option, although it is a lot weaker.
If you are looking for a gaming laptop that is more budget friendly then this might be a good option for you.
See the Acer Nitro 5 on Amazon.
Dell XPS 15 9500
The new Dell XPS 15 offers a lot of power packed into a small body. This laptop is for those who are looking for a little extra when it comes to the screen. This model has an UHD (4k) screen that would be great for anything where you need a lot of details.
The laptop also comes with an Intel Core i7-10750H CPU. This is a 6 core processor and is therefore well suited for tasks that can take advantage of more cores.
There is an Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti GPU, which is not as powerful as an RTX model but still good enough for most. Because of the high pixel count and weaker GPU I would not recommend using this for gaming purposes, although you can still play games on it.
There is 16 GB of RAM and a large 1 TB SSD. This is about what you should be looking for in an engineering laptop.
See the Dell XPS 15 on Amazon.
MSI GL65 Leopard
The MSI GL65 Leopard is another laptop that offers a lot of power. MSI is known for making high end gaming laptops, something that works very well for engineering. MSI laptops have good build quality and excellent performance.
This model also comes with the Intel Core i7-10750H CPU. This CPU is common in high end laptops, and the 6 cores works really well for engineering related tasks, as they are often resource intensive.
The laptop also has an RTX 2070 Max-Q, one of the better laptop GPUs on the market right now.
There is also the standard 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD, which is what we are looking for. Overall the MSI GL65 is a solid laptop that that you would be very happy with.
See the MSI GL65 Leopard on Amazon.
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15
This model of the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 is one of the most powerful laptops on this list. The 2020 version comes with a brand new Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU. There are not that many laptops that use this CPU as it is very high end and adds a bit to the total price. It offers a bit more performance, and if you want the very best then this is the CPU you want to go for.
There is also an RTX 2070 Super in this model, making the laptop suitable for other tasks such as AI and gaming. There is also 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of SSD storage on board. This is one of the better engineering laptops currently.
The ROG line from ASUS has been around for a long time and they make good laptops that will last a long time.
The laptop also has a great screen with a refresh rate of 300Hz if you want to play video games. If not then the refresh rate is not so important.
See the ASUS ROG Strix Scar on Amazon.
MSI GE75 Raider
The MSI GE75 Raider is another powerful laptop. This model is on par with all the other laptops on this list, and it is overall one of the better laptops out there in terms of power.
The laptop comes with the Intel Core i9-10980HK CPU. This is an 8 core CPU which makes it very well suited for intensive tasks. Currently it is one of the best laptop CPUs for engineering.
The laptop also has the RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, one of the best GPUs you will find in a laptop.
There is also 32 GB of RAM and and a 1 TB SSD. This laptop meets all the system recommendations we set at the beginning of the post.
See the MSI GE75 Raider on Amazon.
Razer Blade Pro 17
This is the second Razer blade laptop on this list. This model is a 17 inch option for those who want a little larger laptop. The increased screen real-estate can be useful if you are going to be doing a lot of graphical work and don’t need the laptop to be as portable as a 15 inch.
The laptop has the Intel Core i7-10875H CPU. This is another 8 core CPU that offers power close to what you would get in the i7-10980HK.
The model we picked has the RTX 2070 Max-Q, but you could chose to configure it with the RTX 2080 Max-Q if you wanted.
There is also 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD that we have also seen in a lot of other laptops.
See the Razer Blade Pro 17 on Amazon.
ASUS ZenBook Duo
The ASUS ZenBook Duo is a special laptop for those who will be working with sketches and could use a stylus with their laptop. There is an extra pad above the keyboard that offers you something rather unique in a laptop, an extra 12 inch matte touch screen.
The specs of the laptop are quite good too. The laptop has the Intel Core i7-10510U CPU. It is not as good as some of the other options on this list, but the i7 offers enough power for what most engineering students will do.
There is also a GPU on board, but it is only a GeForce MX250 so don’t expect anything great in terms of gaming performance.
There is also 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD which offers plenty of space. Overall the ZenBook Duo is great for those who want to use a stylus for their work.
See the ASUS ZenBook Duo on Amazon.
Some frequently asked questions
Below are some answers to frequently asked questions regarding engineering laptops.
What laptop brand is best for engineering students?
There are a lot of good brands out there. I think that the best brand for engineering students is Razer. Acer is another good company that I really like. I think Razer is one of the better one because of their commitment to being a great provider to the gaming community. Laptops that are good for gaming are also good for engineering.
What laptop do engineering students need?
Engineering students need a medium level laptop. The most important thing is that you get a CPU that is fairly new. You don’t need a GPU unless you are going to do things such as machine learning or other high intensive tasks. Get a 512 GB SSD, and at least 8 GB of RAM. If you find something that is fairly close to those specs then you should be okay.
Is MacBook pro good for engineering students?
The MacBook pro is good for most engineering students. As long as you don’t need to do anything too intensive the MacBook is a great option. If you need something that requires a powerful GPU then it is not the laptop to go for. One of the strongest features of the MacBook is the design and high build quality. It also offers easy access to a terminal which many software engineers will find useful.
Which processor is best for engineering students
The best processor for engineering students will be a 10th generation i7 or i9. You should go for one with as many cores as possible. You can get up to 8 cores in a laptop CPU now, but 6 cores is both more common and more affordable.
How much RAM do you need for engineering
You need a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, although 16 GB would be a lot better. Many laptops that only have 8 GB actually only has 1 chip in them, so you can often easily just buy one more and put it in yourself. It is also better to use 2 CPUs instead of one.
Do Engineering Students need a powerful laptop
Yes and No. It really comes down to what you think you are going to do. If you plan on doing things such as machine learning then yes engineering students need a powerful laptop. If you are going to be using drawing software to make models then you also need a decent laptop, but something in the middle such as an Acer Predator Helios 300 should go a long way.
What kind of laptop do engineers use?
Most engineers use a work station for much of their work, and a laptop on the side. Again, it comes down to what you are doing. If you have a desktop as your main work station then you don’t need much from a laptop, but if you use the laptop to work from home then the engineer would have a more powerful option. Most engineers use a business style or gaming like laptop.
Conclusion
Overall I think the Razer Blade 15 is the best laptop for engineers. The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a solid choice for engineering students, and the overall most powerful engineering laptop is the MSI GS66.
The most budget friendly options which might be more appropriate for students is the Acer Aspire and the Dell Inspiron.
I am a Software Engineer who enjoy writing about things that interest me. Here on OamaTech I write about programming as well as other tech related topics. Visit my author page to learn more about me and what I am working on right now.