Help me choose a laptop for an engineering student

[Anonymous]

My kid is a sophomore in high school but I am hoping he can take this laptop with him to college.
Is that crazy? Will he need to trade up after a couple of years?

I would like to pay less than $2000
I would like windows laptop

[Anonymous]

You will want to buy a new laptop when he starts college, ideally a model recommended by the school.

[Anonymous]

Ask the specific engineering school what their requirements are. They will vary.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s crazy to want to buy a laptop now — that will be suited to his requirements in 3-7 years. The s hook that he attends will likely have their own recommendations. What does he need now? Maybe spend a lot less for something that will get him adequately through the next 3 years or so.

Why Windows?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the responses.

My kid doesn't like Apple. It's the one good habit he got from me

[Anonymous]

Do you have target schools in mind?

People who are computer-oriented come up with amazing hacks.

I think I read that a kid who couldn't afford a good laptop used a chromebook to remote into some campus computer and all his crunching work was done on the computer he removed into.

I think cheap Windows computers work a lot better when you make them into Linux machines.

Don't buy before it's really needed.

[Anonymous]

Wait to see what, if anything, the specific college or program recommends.

CAD software, in particular, often has very specific system requirements and approved hardware lists. It is also likely that the school will have computer labs full of nice desktop machines that meet these requirements, and the students may not need laptops at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses.

My kid doesn't like Apple. It's the one good habit he got from me

That is pretty short sighted. Apple is built on Unix, so as an engineer it has many advantages.

He could run Linux on his windows hardware, but it sucks for office type tasks and cloud office software is meh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have target schools in mind?

People who are computer-oriented come up with amazing hacks.

I think I read that a kid who couldn't afford a good laptop used a chromebook to remote into some campus computer and all his crunching work was done on the computer he removed into.

I think cheap Windows computers work a lot better when you make them into Linux machines.

Don't buy before it's really needed.

Yeah i feel like you only need a thin client anyways.

[Anonymous]

I’d wait. Laptops improve with time plus your engineering minded HS sophomore may change direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses.

My kid doesn't like Apple. It's the one good habit he got from me

Macs are far superior to PCs, except for gaming. If he specifically declines a Mac, it's because he wants to game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for the responses.

My kid doesn't like Apple. It's the one good habit he got from me

Sounds like you don't know anything about it, then. AND you're proud of it. Here's your Stupid Medal.

[Anonymous]

Whatever you get now he will get a new one for college.
Unless he wants to game and even if he does, you can get a cheaper one now. Maybe you can use it later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ask the specific engineering school what their requirements are. They will vary.

+1

We were required to have Apple computers at mine.

[Anonymous]

Macs are far superior to PCs, except for gaming. If he specifically declines a Mac, it's because he wants to game.

Or he is running specific CAD or other software that only runs on Windows or Linux.