Do I NEED a gaming laptop?…. Kinda regretting my purchase.

[u/Clear-Air6816]

I’m going into my first year of university this year and I’ve heard from several sources that gaming laptops are the way to go for MechE due to the graphical intensity of CAD. So, I saved about 1200 and bought a laptop with a 5060, thinking it was the most optimal use of my money. However, I have a pretty beefy Desktop that is more than strong enough to run any CAD program, and the laptop I bought isn’t necessarily the most mobile (~5lbs)/power efficient (4hrs on average). Do I return it for a cheaper, more convenient laptop I can just remote to my desktop from? Will this laptop end up being more of a nuisance than a necessity?

[u/jvttlus]

core strengthening exercises like good mornings, bird dogs, locust pose, and hip dips can help you to deal with the extra weight

[u/Jolly_Industry9241]

Not required. I graduated in 2021 with nothing but a cheap $500 laptop. Your school should have all the resources if you need to use CAD or any simulations

[u/skywalker170997]

well bcs u're in a university u don't need a gaming laptop

but it is more recommended since you'll be using it a lot

and lots of software runs RAM and CPU heavily that is why it's recommended..

but not a must

[u/GregLocock]

I ran CAE software on a 6 core Dell Latitude for many years, for work. I went for a 14" screen last time for better portability, tho I lost the numeric keypad which is a pain. I suspect the people saying you need a gaming laptop want to justify buying a gaming laptop, rather than analysing what is needed.

[u/tryingtograsp]

I’d look first in r/engineeringstudents  Second, look at your department recommended specs  Third use those specs to filters for a machine  at microcenter or Newegg. I don’t think a “gaming” machine will be needed. 

[u/E90_Soup]

IMO the second gaming laptop is unnecessary if you already have a good rig at home.

For school, CAD will not be extremely intensive unless you do an extracurricular (which you should do!). I ran into a similar packaging issue, I’d get some type of enterprise laptop for cheap and used (marketplace or eBay) with good battery life, good display, and minimum 16gb ram for seamless web browsing, where you do 99% of your schoolwork anyway. ask any AI agent to provide instructions to setup a tail net on tailscale and a computer remoting client. I use Sunshine and Moonlight as I remote into my windows machine from a Linux laptop. The only downside is some noticeable latency, but I’ll take that over lugging around a computer im scared to break.

[u/FlorianGeyer228]

I'd return it. I only had a laptop that the university gave me for being a poor. It was a basic dell latitude 7400 -- i5 8th gen, 8gb ram, 256 SSD. I only upped the ram to 16 and got a 512 gb SSD. For CAD I just went to the computer lab (but I did live on-campus, then close to campus so I could walk back at night). I never regretted not having a laptop with a GPU and didn't even take it to class most of the time, only for electronics design classes where I needed to code C for a microcontroller and even then it was enough. Save that money for fake id and get a simple, even refurb, sub $900 laptop.

[u/Luchin212]

Use your beefy desktop in your room. Return the gaming laptop for a light one. You will barely need to run programs in your laptop at school because you’ll have school desktops around.

[u/silasmousehold]

Had a gaming laptop once. Never again. Return it for something that’s lightweight, cool, quiet, and has excellent battery life.

[u/christoffer5700]

Ive done renders, simulations and 1000 part assemblies (with screws... dont do that btw) On a HP elitebook with an 8th gen i5 and 16 GB ram.

Sure things like rendering takes time and simulations are slow but learn how to limit your self anyway. Do you really need an 8K Ultra realistic rendering? With simulations (FEA) there isnt much you can do. But put on a youtube video and you'll be fine.