There are a ton of laptop computer offers now that back-to-school season is in full swing. In the event you’re an engineering pupil, you’re going to wish a machine that may deal with resource-intensive coursework. A robust CPU and a great deal of reminiscence and storage are an absolute should. Portability is a vital issue too, particularly in the event you’re going from class to class. In the event you’re undecided the place to start your search, don’t sweat it. We’ve assembled a listing of laptops which can be excellent for engineering college students, as they’re each highly effective and transportable. Learn on to study extra.
It’s again to high school season and meaning you may rating some epic offers on nice laptops that will help you ace the subsequent semester. Try our roundup of best back to school deals to see what is offered.
[Looking for something different? Check out our picks for the best laptops for college students!]
Up to date 08/12/2023: To incorporate the Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip as our choose for finest battery life. Learn extra about this lengthy lasting, reasonably priced new choose in our abstract beneath.
Table of Contents
Dell XPS 17 (2023) – Finest total
Professionals
- Expansive 17-inch 16:10 show
- Skinny chassis
- Unimaginable battery life
Cons
- Excessive value with out OLED show
- Low-wattage GPU limits 3D efficiency
- Low-res 720p webcam
Value When Reviewed:
From £2,698.99 | Mannequin reviewed £3,579
The Dell XPS 17 has quite a bit going for it. You’re getting super-fast efficiency, a vivid show, and lengthy battery life. The laptop computer additionally offers nice connectivity options with 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports and an impressively lengthy battery life. Beneath the hood, it’s rocking an Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, an Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. That’s a ton of reminiscence and storage, which is an effective factor in the event you’re utilizing numerous resource-intensive functions reminiscent of 3D CAD modeling packages
The one actual draw back is that the XPS 17 weighs just below 5 and a half kilos, so it’s an actual beast. The webcam is barely 720p, as nicely, which can be a draw back if you need to do any on-line courses or video-conferencing. Purchase in the event you can dwell with these minor shortcomings, the most recent XPS 17 is an exceptional alternative.
Learn our full
Dell XPS 17 9730 review
Acer Aspire 3 – Finest funds choice

Professionals
- Spacious keyboard with quantity pad
- HD webcam
- Stable video playback efficiency
- First rate enterprise app efficiency
- Workday-long battery life
Cons
- Poor gaming graphics efficiency
- Primary 1080p show
- Small 128GB storage drive
Value When Reviewed:
£529.99
In the event you’re trying to avoid wasting money, the Acer Aspire 3 is a worthy alternative. It packs a great quantity of efficiency for not some huge cash. Plus, the full-size keyboard offers a great deal of room, which is ideal for writing these time period papers or modifying these CAD fashions. Whereas that’s all nicely and good, the internals are actually what makes this laptop computer a stable worth purchase.
The Aspire 3 comes with a Ryzen 3 7320U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of PCIe SSD storage. The 15.8-inch 1080p show additionally has first rate coloration high quality. In our checks we discovered that the battery was in a position to maintain a cost for as much as eight hours of steady use—sufficient to final a full day of courses. One of the shocking options was the design. Whereas just a little utilitarian, it’s one of many sturdiest builds we’ve seen on a funds laptop computer. All in all, the Acer Aspire 3 provides you loads of bang for comparatively couple of bucks.
Learn our full
Acer Aspire 3 (2022) review
Acer Swift 5 (2022) – Most transportable

Professionals
- Sturdy, compact design
- Hello-res 14-inch show with 16:10 side ratio
- Twelfth-gen Core i7 delivers robust efficiency
- Lengthy battery life
- 1080p webcam
Cons
- Horrible touchpad
- So-so audio system
Want a light-weight laptop computer to take with you to class? The Acer Swift 5 will certainly match the invoice, because it weighs just a little beneath three kilos. It additionally has a compact design, a 1080p webcam, and spectacular battery life. The 14-inch show is “brilliant and spacious” due to the 16:10 side ratio and 2560×1600 decision. Beneath the hood, you’ll discover an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, Intel Iris Xe built-in graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. The one actual knock we’ve in opposition to this machine is the undersized touchpad. Nevertheless, it’s not a deal-breaker, as you may at all times plug into an exterior mouse. It’s a captivating little laptop computer that’s each zippy and travel-friendly.
Learn our full
Acer Swift 5 (2022) review
Lenovo Legion 5 Professional (2023) – Finest for gaming

Professionals
- Good-looking design
- Glorious keyboard
- Plenty of connectivity
- Robust CPU and GPU efficiency
Cons
- Heavy and ponderous
- Mediocre show
- Quick battery life
Lenovo simply continues to enhance upon its Legion 5 Professional laptop computer, which presents superior gaming efficiency, excellent connectivity options, a sturdy design, and way more. It could possibly simply deal with each schoolwork in addition to late-night gaming periods. Whereas it isn’t precisely low cost, contemplating the efficiency options it provides you, the pricing can really be thought-about reasonably priced as nicely.
This laptop computer is rocking an Intel Core i7-13700H CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. It carried out nicely in our gaming checks with numbers that land it solidly within the midrange gaming laptop computer pack. As for the 16-inch show, it has a decision of 2560×1600 and a most refresh fee of 165Hz. We weren’t too impressed with the display screen, which, whereas positively brilliant, will not be as vibrant as others we’ve seen. Nonetheless, in the event you’re on the lookout for a flexible laptop computer that may do all of it—work and play—look no additional than Lenovo’s newest Legion 5 Professional.
Learn our full
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro review
Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip – Finest battery life

Professionals
- Spectacular battery life
- Spacious touchpad
- 1080p webcam
- Beautiful show
Cons
- Heavier than anticipated
- Show is simply too reflective in exterior environments
- Middling efficiency
Value When Reviewed:
Not out there within the UK
When going to and from courses, taking notes, after which doing assignments, you won’t at all times have a handy method to cost your laptop computer so that you want one thing that can final all day. The Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip does simply that with a incredible battery that simply doesn’t appear cease. It lasted a jaw-dropping 19 hours on a single cost throughout our testing—we needed to run the benchmark twice simply to verify. That’s positively wild. For many laptops in the event you can eek out 10 hours on a single cost it’s thought-about a long-lasting. However the CM34 Flip virtually doubles that quantity.
Lest you be involved about whether or not this Chromebook might be a stable performer, know that it options AMD’s Ryzen 3 7320C (just like the Acer Aspire 3 above), which is superior to a Snapdragon CPU. This 2-in-1 Chromebook additionally comes with a colourful touchscreen show, comfy touchpad, and high-quality 1080p webcam. It’s not probably the most transportable although, weighing in at simply over 4 kilos. However in the event you’re on the hunt for a long-lasting on a regular basis machine that gained’t break the financial institution, you may’t get significantly better than the CM34 Flip.
Learn our full
Asus Chromebook CM34 Flip review
HP Pavilion Plus 14 – Finest show

Professionals
- OLED show is beautiful
- Smooth, all-metal chassis
- Robust multimedia efficiency
Cons
- Woeful battery life
- Onboard reminiscence can’t be expanded post-purchase
- Low distinction between keys and key symbols
In the event you’re an engineering pupil, chances are high you’re going to be spending numerous time gazing a display screen. You would possibly as nicely spend money on a great one then, proper? Effectively, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 has a beautiful OLED show. The 14-inch display screen has a decision of 2880×1800, a 16:10 side ratio, and a 90Hz refresh fee. In line with our tester, the show produces “unbelievable distinction and deep blacks” in addition to a “sharp image” total. As for the inner parts, it has an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage. Whereas we liked the excellent show and sturdy all-metal chassis, we weren’t thrilled with the brief battery life and the low distinction between the keys. Nitpicks apart, it is a nice choose in the event you undergo from eye pressure and pressure complications.
Learn our full
HP Pavilion Plus 14 review
Asus Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED – Finest twin show

Professionals
- Beautiful major show and simple to see secondary show
- Glorious I/O choices and wi-fi connectivity
- CPU / GPU energy meets the wants of content material creators
Cons
- The battery life is missing for a productiveness laptop computer
- The trackpad is small and awkwardly positioned
- Rear oriented ports could be arduous to succeed in
The Asus Zenbook Professional 14 takes the concept of a pleasant show and doubles it, sporting a 14.5-inch 4K contact OLED essential panel and a very intriguing secondary 12.7-inch 2880×864 display screen positioned proper above the keyboard. This second show is acknowledged by Home windows as a second monitor and you should utilize it to assist with all types of duties, reminiscent of a trackpad or to show contact controls for some Adobe apps. It’s not simply fairly screens although; the Zenbook Professional 14 comes with a Core i7 processor, RTX 3050 graphics, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD basically making it a midrange workstation. The one actual downside is the mediocre battery life, which implies you’ll in all probability want to hold round a charging cable whereas on the go or at school. Regardless of this, the Zenbook Professional 14 Duo OLED is a well-tuned productiveness machine full with two high-quality shows and sufficient efficiency to create and render these subsequent engineering masterpieces.
Learn our full
Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED review
How we examined
The PCWorld crew places each Home windows laptop computer by way of a collection of intense benchmarks that check GPU and CPU efficiency, battery life, and so forth. The concept is to push the laptop computer to its limits after which evaluate it in opposition to others we’ve examined. Beneath, you’ll discover a breakdown of every check and the the reason why we run them.
Home windows laptops
- PCMark 10: The PCMark 10 benchmark is how we decide how nicely the laptop computer handles common use duties like net shopping, phrase processing, spreadsheets, streaming, and so forth.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is extra intensive than PCMark 10. It measures how lengthy a laptop computer’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a quick stress check of the CPU cores. It renders a 2D scene over a brief time period.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D efficiency stays constant over time by working graphic-intensive clips. That is how we check a gaming laptop computer’s GPU.
- Video rundown check: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Home windows 10’s Films & TV app till the laptop computer dies.
FAQ
How a lot processing energy will I want?
You’re going to wish a great quantity of processing energy for engineering duties, so we’d suggest an Intel Core i5 or greater. Nevertheless, an Intel Core i7 is taken into account ultimate. The sort of processor is nice for multitasking, gaming, and demanding workloads.
Is RAM vital?
Completely! The quantity of RAM immediately impacts the pace of your packages. Engineering college students will possible be dwelling in packages like Java and Python, so ensuring these packages run easily is totally very important. The naked minimal we’d suggest is 8GB, however 16GB is best.
What about storage?
You’re going to wish fairly a little bit of house for a slew of engineering packages, so we’d suggest at the least 512GB of SSD (stable state drive) storage. If you need extra space and have the funds for it, go for 1TB of NVMe SSD storage.
How a lot ought to my laptop computer weigh?
You don’t wish to be lugging a 5 pound beast from class to class. A transportable laptop computer ought to weigh about three kilos or much less. By way of portability and worth, we propose shopping for a laptop computer with a 13- or 14-inch show.
#laptops #engineering #college students