Mechanical engineers are responsible for the design, development, testing and production of essentially every product you see around you. They are some of those responsible for advancing our technological prowess with new inventions meant to benefit humankind. Solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, and other renewable energies and eco-friendly innovations also can be attributed to engineers doing their due diligence. With an understanding of physics, engineering, mathematics and science, a mechanical engineer can adapt to any number of industries.
That's also partially why mechanical engineering courses are now a popular education stream with wide versatility in so many high-earning industries. For those looking to further their understanding of all things mechanical engineering, they're going to need the best laptops for mechanical engineering students to help achieve those dreams. But now, you may be asking yourself, do I really need a laptop if I'm going to be making things by hand and physically working of machines and systems?
What's Mechanical Engineering?
Mechanical engineering, one of the broadest disciplines in the engineering field, is also one of the most critical in an ever evolving technological landscape. The mechanical engineering field emerged in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution where engineers would work on all manner of sophisticated machinery like the steam engine, weaving machines, mills, the cotton gin, telegraph machines, locomotives and plenty more inventions that created the base of the technological age.
Since then however, mechanical engineers have evolved to varying industries like smartphones, laptops, oil and gas, manufacturing, energy, aerospace, automation, automotive, and robotics, to name a few. Anything that has moving parts, you can bet that a mechanical engineer played some part in it's conception.
Simply put, an integral part of our modern society.
Do Mechanical Engineering Students Need a Laptop?
To put it bluntly and simply, yes, mechanical engineering students need a laptop.
Firstly, any student of any kind pursuing a higher education, no matter the course, should have a laptop. Almost every student in any degree or post-graduate program will need a laptop to help them finish up assignments, conduct research, and just general studying. Having a capable, and powerful laptop that won't freeze and lag out at critical moments is important for the ease of mind of any student. For mechanical engineering students however, they're going to need the best laptops for an engineering student to make sure it's capable of handling assignments and any software/programs they need to during their studies.
As mentioned earlier, mechanical engineering has long past the outdated processes of designing and planning on pen and paper, to now a powerful mechanical engineering laptop capable of running all these tasks on one workstation. The beauty of modern ingenuity. Not only is it more efficient and easier for a mechanical engineer to design, test, and produce via a computer, but it also is an integral tool to create scenarios and testing not previously possible in our history. That's impressive as is, but also means that things can become a little complicated. While thorough studies and understanding is required to create, conceptualize and test any manner of product, the base knowledge of the software and processes needed is far more vital.
Modern World
Nowadays, modern mechanical engineering students and engineers have to familiarize themselves with something called "Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing" (CAD) software. Some of the popular CAD software include AutoCAD, CREO, Solidworks, etc. These software are used to create precise 2D and 3D drawings with a wide variety of surfaces, mesh objects, and solid objects. Think of it as something akin to creating a blueprint or design schematics for products, buildings, roads, etc. Mechanical engineering students would also need to learn programming languages such as C++ or C to get used to creating systems that would help their machines work. Another example of software a mechanical engineering student would need to use is Analysis software like Fluent and CFD.
So basically, there's a lot of programs and a wide variety of software needed to fully encapsulate the 'mechanical engineer' role. But since we now know the type of programs engineering students will need to be familiar with, it makes things easier for us to disseminate the important specs the best laptop for mechanical engineering students should have. For our own reference, we'll be going through the minimum and recommended system requirements for one of the most popular design tools; AutoCAD. Since this is one of the most graphically and CPU intensive programs for students and professionals, we can use this as a base to understand what the best laptop for mechanical engineering students would look like.
AutoCAD Minimum System Requirements
Based on the minimum system requirements provided by AutoCAD, we can see that the best laptops for mechanical engineering students will need some substantial performance. For our operating system, the best laptop for mechanical engineering would need to have at least Windows 8.1. I'd highly recommend upgrading to Windows 10 though to keep things simple. Most laptop brands will already be housing Windows 10 out the box, so not something we really have to worry about here.
Next, we're going to need a processor capable of over 2.5-2.9GHz processing speeds. This would roughly translate to a variety of processors like the 8th/9th Generation Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processors. You will also need 7GB free space on your laptop hard drive, as well as at least 8GB RAM as a minimum requirement. This 8GB RAM is pretty telling of the high amount of power required for the software. Other specs include at least a 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) display resolution and a 1GB GPU which are pretty standard specs. We can for the most part be assured that the best laptops for mechanical engineering students will cover these specs sufficiently.
Now that we understand the minimum requirements, let's take a look at the recommended specs.
AutoCAD Recommended System Requirements
As we can see here, the recommended system requirements are quite a ways off from the originally stated minimum system specs. This basically means that you're going to need very consistent, powerful performance to have AutoCAD running smoothly. Firstly, the OS most students would be accustomed to will be Windows 10. Windows 10 is now the standard from Microsoft's numerous operating systems till date. It's very well supported in terms of both hardware and software, and has plenty of user friendly features that makes the system helpful. We also notice a upgrade for the processor, now recommending a 3+GHz processor.
For the most part, we can relate a 3+GHz processor to equate to a 10th or 11th Generation Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors. These processors are the latest flagship processors from Intel, so a surefire way to have dependable processing power is to find a laptop with one of the latest 10th or 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processors. For AutoCAD, you will also need to upgrade your RAM substantially to a 16GB RAM capacity rather than the 8GB RAM capacity from the minimum specs. You still need only 7GB of space on your hard drive, but I will add that large datasets and 3D models may require more space. There are also extra software features from AutoCAD which will result in more storage space taken on your hard drive.
Overall
The best way to ensure performance is to find a good combination of processor, RAM and SSD. If one of the specs is lacking, it can be supported with either a bigger RAM capacity or high-capacity SSD. The processor is the only constant indicator of performance you should be aware of.
Another staple the best laptops for mechanical engineering students should have is a good looking screen and strong GPU performance. The recommended specs advise getting a 4K display and a 4GB GPU. However, since we are listing out the best laptops for engineering majors, a 4K display may be too rich an investment for many. You'll be able to fully immerse and use the design software with a Full HD display, so we'll keep that as the standard for our search.
Now that we've gone through the specs you need, let's take a look at the things that are unsaid. These features will add to experience and should be beneficial for most students, so lets get straight into the features.
Things to Consider
Form Factor
One important feature that I think many consumers overlook is the form factor and portability aspects of a laptop. A sleek, portable, slim laptop is the new standard for many working professionals and college student. No longer is it the norm to have bulky, overweight laptops that just put a serious strain on your shoulder and back just from carrying it around campus. For the most part, we'll try to include the best, sleekest laptops around but I'll add that many laptop brands choose to create bulkier laptops to accommodate a lower price tag.
Nonetheless, a laptop that doesn't weigh you down as you're out and about is truly a Godsend for students. A smaller form factor is slowly but surely turning to the norm as even once considered huge 15.6-inch displays are coming in smaller bodies. The form factor usually relates to the screen-to-body ratio, weight, and overall thickness of the laptop.
Form factor also affects how portable your laptop could be considered. Another aspect that relates to portability is the battery life, which we'll get to in a bit.
Gaming Laptop for Engineers?
One thing that I would highly recommend for a laptop for mechanical engineering students is to get a gaming laptop. Yes, it may seem absurd that students, engineering students no less, should get a gaming laptop but truly, it just makes sense. Many of the specs you're going to need to use software like AutoCAD and programming languages will often match up to even budget gaming laptop brands. Gaming laptops are not only good for gaming, because internally, the specs can be used for a plethora of different software and use cases. Most notably will be the graphics card.
All gaming laptop brands will undoubtedly equip their beasts with powerful GPUs like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX or NVIDIA GeForce RTX, capable of handling some of the newest, graphically intense games around. What this translates to is actually powerful, steady performance in graphic intensive design software like AutoCAD and Catia.
Not to mention gaming laptops will also house respectable speakers and display resolution which would benefit you on the long run. Sure, the priority of a student should be to study, but a laptop is arguably the most influential tool in a student's journey in the modern world. You will use it for everything, from studying, streaming movies and videos, and social media. So why not get one you can play a game or two to unwind from the stresses of the engineering life?
Battery Life
Battery life is another indicator to how portable your laptop is. Simply because a longer battery life equates to how long you can use the laptop without needing to charge it back up. This is often an overlooked feature on most laptops simply as consumers don't see the advantage of a better battery life. This one simple addition to a laptop can greatly enhance its value solely for how much it adds to your peace of mind. As a professional writer and tech reviewer, I've come across plenty of laptops and different use cases and my favorite has always been lighter laptops with a long battery life.
It will change the way you work, and overall will affect how productive you are when you do work. Plus, just imagine how amazing it would be to just get your laptop off the charger, bring it out for a full day of classes, studying at the library, eating out, and finally home again without ever needing to plug in. Many laptop brands are now opting to seriously enhance battery life by getting a longer charge and speeding up the charging process. For the most part, anything over 7 hours as publicized by the manufacturer should be good enough. Anything over that will just be additional value which is a very good plus for all involved.
Processor
As we mentioned during the minimum/recommended requirements portion of the article, the processor is an integral part of the puzzle related to the best laptops for mechanical engineering students. The processor is arguably the most important spec for any laptop because it is the main processing unit controlling many of your laptop's applications and processes. For the most part, a powerful processor can make up for the shortcomings of a lower-specced GPU and RAM capacities. But you really can't do much if your processor isn't up to the task.
Most notably, we're probably going to be seeing a lot of laptops featuring some of the latest Intel Core processors like the 10th Generation Intel Core i7 lineup. Even slightly dated 8th or 9th Generation Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors would be powerful enough to handle most programs, depending on their supporting hardware. The processor is essentially the brain of your laptop, so keep a lookout for this very important spec that can alter your laptop's performance very heavily.
Now that we've gone everything we need to know about the specs, let's get straight into our search for the best laptop for mechanical engineering students!
Best Laptops For Mechanical Engineering Students
1. Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire series has always been about a laser focus on reliable, consistent performance with an affordable price tag. The latest Acer Aspire 5 is no different, imputing a stellar value for a respectable spec sheet. Starting things off, on the display the Acer Aspire 5 houses a standard 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with two thin bezels on the side of the display frame. This results in a pretty looking display, perfect for engineering students cramming off their laptop screen all day. The display is also equipped with some on-board display tech like Acer Color Intelligence and Acer BlueLightShield to make things easier on the eyes.
Besides the display, the laptop house some medium-level internal specifications. On the inside, the Acer Aspire 5 is equipped with a 10th Generation Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM and a respectable 512GB SSD. For the graphics card, the laptop comes with an NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU making for relatively respectable performance. The NIVIDA GeForce MX350 comes with 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM which should be a reliable graphics card for AutoCAD and other similar design software, but I wouldn't run too highly intensive games on the laptop. But any other function, you should be more than well-equipped to handle the task.
One thing I will add when it comes to the performance of the laptop, the inclusion of a 512GB SSD at this price point is a steal. As a mechanical engineer, you're bound to have multiple projects and products you work on over the course of your career. Having a high-capacity, speedy 512GB SSD will in turn be very useful over the long run. Other standout features the laptop comes with includes Acer TrueHarmony for better bass and volume, a backlit keyboard, a sleek design and up to 8 hours of battery life. Overall, the Acer Aspire 5 is one of the best affordable laptops out there, and for uni students looking for a reliable, affordable laptop, this should be the best fit for you.
2. Acer Nitro 5
If you were looking to add on a little extra firepower in your laptop, the Acer Nitro 5 gaming laptop could be the best option. First off, we've got a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display which is capable of a stellar 144Hz refresh rate. Having this high of a refresh rate, you'll notice transitions, animations and scrolling look that much smoother on screen. A fantastic little addition that'll serve mechanical engineering grads well, for both work and pleasure. Otherwise, the design throughout the laptop follows a very distinct, 'gamer' feel with a bright red backlit keyboard and an almost alien, futuristic design language around the frame. Very attractive, but some consumers may be put off by how 'gamer' it looks.
But since this is a gaming laptop, it's best features are within the laptop, ensuring things run smooth and quick. The Acer Nitro 5 comes with a slightly dated 9th Generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor, a whopping 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. Powering the graphical performance is a solid NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB of GDDR6 VRAM. Gamers out there will be able to relate to how impressive the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is, and with that much RAM, you should be more than capable of running any engineering design software you need to. And play some of the latest games too. The only downside I'd say about the internal specs here is the rather paltry 256GB SSD. Since it is a gaming laptop with rather impressive specs already, the 256GB SSD in turn leaves more to be desired.
For this laptop, I'd recommend checking out external HDDs and SSD drives simply to have that little extra bump in storage space. Otherwise, very impressive specs so far. Other notable features the laptop comes with includes Acer CoolBoost technology with a dual fan setup for heat regulation, a great audio setup with Waves MaxxAudio and Acer TrueHarmony, and up to 8 hours of battery life.
3. HP Pavilion 15
Another fantastic value-for-money laptop on the list, the HP Pavilion 15 brings a very compelling package to the table. On the display we've got a super clean 15.6-inch Full HD micro-edged display with a 178° wide-viewing angles. Truly a stunning screen with a great screen-to-body ratio, not to mention cramming in a 15.6-inch display in a relatively sleek form factor. Besides the display, the whole aesthetic and design is probably my favorite out of all the laptops we've seen so far. It just oozes premium, simple and minimalist design with zero wasted space all around. A very attractive laptop indeed.
But stellar design isn't the only thing the HP Pavilion 15 has going for it. Accompanying the gorgeous design is an 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1165G7 processor, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. While these are very impressive specs so far, with caveat here is the paltry Intel Iris Xe Graphics card. Since it is an integrated graphics card, don't expect too much out of the laptop. You should be able to handle AutoCAD and similar software relatively easily, but I wouldn't play super intensive games and overpowering graphic design software here. Otherwise, performance is solid thanks to one of the latest Intel Core i7 processors, a whopping 16GB RAM and a generous 512GB SSD.
There are a few more special extras that come with the laptop like up to 8 hours of battery life with a speedy charge, netting 0-50% in just 45 minutes, audio tuned by Bang&Olufsen with HP Dual speaker setup, and measures in at only 0.7-inches thick. A very compact, powerful laptop that'll do any college student well.
4. Razer Blade 15
If you were looking for something a little more premium in terms of a gaming laptop, the Razer Blade 15 is 'premium' gaming laptop personified. Razer is a very established gaming laptop & peripherals brand with a their expertise in premium gamer gear. The Razer Blade 15 base version is one of the latest examples of the brand philosophy with a 15.6-inch Full HD 'Thin Bezel' IPS display. On first glance, I'm bound to agree with the 'thin bezel' statement because the Razer Blade 15 has 'Razer' (hah) thin bezels on the side and a slight forehead on top. Besides the impressive display, I'm a big fan of the overall aesthetic of the whole laptop design. Throughout the laptop, you've got anodized CNC aluminum chassis which makes it that much more durable and premium feeling.
However, since it is a gaming laptop, the Razer Blade 15 has the appropriate firepower befitting a 'gamer'. The laptop comes with a 1oth Generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 16GB RAM and a decent 256GB SSD. Again, the only fault I've seen so far with some of these laptops is the low 256GB SSD capacity. It really does put a strain on your laptop's storage since a 256GB SSD fills up relatively quickly without you even noticing. Again, I'd advised looking for an external HDD or SSD. For the graphical performance however, we've got a flagship NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU with dedicated 6GB VRAM.
All in all, respectable performance with a great GPU to support any graphic intensive programs. While the SSD may be lacking, the supporting specs should be more than capable of handling most tasks. There are a few more features that truly makes the Razer Blade 15 shine such as the 144Hz speedy refresh rate, up to 6 hours of battery life, and unique Razer Chroma RGB backlit keyboard. Honestly, I'd get the laptop solely for the impressive Razer Chroma keyboard, which I just haven't experienced, other than a Razer laptop. The Razer Blade 15 is truly a premium gaming laptop that lives up to the brand, but that comes at a premium cost. However, I'd say it's money well spent for a laptop that will last you a couple of years.
5. ASUS VivoBook K571
- Display: 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with 120Hz refresh rate
- Processor: 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H
- RAM / Storage: 16GB DDR4 RAM / 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti
- Battery Life: 6 hour
The ASUS VivoBook series always brings you some of the best value with some of the best specs around, and the ASUS VivoBook K571 is no different. In fact, this is one of the premium variants of the VivoBook lineup and comes with some killer internal specs. But before that, on the display we've got a 15.6-inch Full HD display with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It isn't exactly common to see a high-refresh rate screen on a non-gaming laptop, so that's a pleasant added bonus. The overall design language seems to be relatively simple, with a striking dark blue chassis and backlit keyboard. Simple, but effective. There is also a slight incline on the display frame, which should result in a more ergonomic typing experience.
On the internals, the laptop comes with a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H processor, 16GB RAM and a jaw dropping 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD combo. A very, very specced out machine with a great RAM capacity and some generous storage options. The 256GB SSD can be upgraded up to a 1TB SSD, and the additional HDD can also be upgraded to 2TB HDD. For RAM, you've got a variety of options ranging from 16GB RAM to 24GB RAM, and a whopping 40GB RAM capacity. Safe to say, you've got any possible program well handled with these internals. Bolstering the performance ranks however is a dependable NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti with 4GB dedicated VRAM.
There are a few other great features to complement the core competencies of the laptop such as the dual fan cooling system and ASUS IceCool technology to prevent heat build up in the palm rest, fingerprint reader, and up to 6 hours of battery life. All in all, a very versatile, upgradable laptop built to your preferences at a pretty reasonable price point. A very compelling whole package, that's for sure.
Conclusion
We've seen a whole host of stellar laptops, all very capable in their own right and would serve well for those pursuing a career in engineering. However, we do have to crown a champion out of all the best laptops for mechanical engineering students we've seen so far.
The undisputed best of the best laptop is the Razer Blade 15!
The Razer Blade 15 is a king of kings when it comes to gaming laptops. Razer's laptop lineup has always been competitive, reliable machines built to last with very intuitive features and a killer aesthetic. While it towers in the premium price segment, you get your money's worth with the Razer Blade 15 from a potent combination of aesthetics, performance, and durability.
