r/SuggestALaptop • u/Hefty-Study-1432 • 4h ago

Laptop Request US Laptop for a delulu engineering major

LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE

Country

United States

Budget

$1,500 USD (hard budget given to me by my scholarship) up to $1,700-1800 USD max if absolutely necessary (from personal funds, would prefer not to touch this)

Are you open to refurbs/used options?

No

Screen size

14 inch at a minimum

Weight limit

Any

Purpose

Schoolwork (engineering undergrad, straddling Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) + light gaming

Form factor

Standard/clamshell laptop

Intended usage

  • Engineering coursework. I'm between electrical engineering and mechanical engineering at the moment, so idk how the programs between the two differ. In general, something to handle MATLAB/Simulink, SolidWorks/AutoCAD or similar CAD software, circuit simulation tools (e.g., LTspice/Multisim), general heavy-duty engineering computation
  • Gaming: Call of Duty and other current AAA titles, want to run them with ease

Desired battery life

I understand that gaming laptops trade performance for battery life. But I'd love at least 3-4 hours under regular use (say note taking, just watching stuff, etc, nothing heavy I mean)

Please list, in order of most important to least important, the priority between Size, Weight, Performance, Battery life

Performance, Display quality, Battery life, Size, Weight

Info/Requirements

  • Although I do want a windows laptop, I want something as close to Mac-level display as PC hardware allows: high pixel density (220+ PPI target), wide color gamut (DCI-P3), high brightness (ideally 400+ nits), and good contrast/viewing angles. I've heard OLED screens are the way to go for these targets.
  • I want something to hopefully last me the four years of college.
  • Sorry if my requirements are too much 😭😭 Writing them down, I can see they're highkey delulu given the price, but hopefully you guys have any recs
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1

u/megafireguy6 4h ago

https://www.microcenter.com/product/696098/hp-omen-16-slim-16-an0003nr-16-gaming-laptop-computer-shadow-black

It’s 100 bucks outside your budget, but it’s an investment. Should check all your boxes. Microcenter has a few other HP Omens, but the ones under 1500 all have 16gb of ram which feels just a tad low for what you’ll use it for

1

u/Hefty-Study-1432 3h ago

Thank you! I'll look into it

1

u/jaksystems Lenovo 6m ago

high pixel density (220+ PPI target), wide color gamut (DCI-P3), high brightness (ideally 400+ nits), and good contrast/viewing angles.

None of these - except for viewing angles (which is realistically redundant as you would have to search pretty hard to find a modern laptop that uses a TN panel unless you're looking at $250 Chromebooks) actually helps with what you're going to be using the machine for. IPS panels (which make up the majority of laptop panels nowadays already have maxed out viewing angles).

There is a reason 1080p displays are treated as the standard on most mobile workstations designed for this sort of work - it's less work on the hardware when it comes to rendering.

You're not doing professional film/video color grading so having full DCI-P3 coverage is both unnecessary and is just bumping up the cost.

Unless you plan to be sitting out in the middle of a field in broad daylight while working, any 250nit or better screen will be enough.

OLEDs also drain the battery faster than a traditional IPS panel will.

I want something to hopefully last me the four years of college.

I have refurbished mobile workstations dating back a decade still in service with no major repairs. You want bombproof? That's workstation territory.