Best laptops for engineering students 2024: Expert picks and advice

Why we like the Dell Inspiron Plus 14

The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is one of the most well-rounded laptops we’ve come across in recent months. This sub-$1,000 machine offers reliable performance, phenomenal battery life, and a gorgeous display. You really can’t get much better than that. With an exceptional PCMark 10 score of 7,061, it toppled comparable machines like the Acer Swift Go 14 and the more expensive  Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. This laptop also has a battery life of 17 hours on a single charge (a spectacular result!), so you don’t have trouble yourself with finding a wall outlet to juice up.

Who should buy the Dell Inspiron Plus 14

Anyone looking for a laptop that checks off all the right boxes. Battery life and overall performance are outstanding, sure, but don’t forget about the gorgeous 14-inch 1400p display, which is “exceedingly well suited to office work and static imagery,” according to our review. It has a maximum brightness level of 418 nits and an anti-glare coating, so you can use this laptop in various lighting conditions. The design is far from sexy, but its hardware capabilities and amazing battery life make up for the uninspired aesthetics.

Alternative option: If you’re willing to shell out the extra cash, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i ($1,699.99) is a more premium option. It’s loaded with a faster processor (Intel Core Ultra 9 185H), more RAM (32GB), and a higher resolution display (3200×2000). It also has a bigger screen that measures 16 inches and a killer keyboard. You can’t really go wrong here if you need high-end power for high-end engineering tasks.

Why we like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 lasted a jaw-dropping 24 hours on a single charge. That’s a bonkers result, and I mean that in the best way possible. This is partly due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, which is more power-efficient than Intel or AMD processors. The other factor is the lower-resolution 1920×1200 display. It doesn’t have a high refresh rate or a fancy OLED panel, so it doesn’t impact the battery much. In addition to the extraordinary battery life, it’s also lightweight at 2.66 pounds — it’s designed to be taken with you everywhere.

Who should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6

Anyone with a jam-packed schedule. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is both long-lasting and portable, making it an ideal choice for a busy college student. That said, the keyboard is just okay and the display isn’t the sharpest we’ve ever seen, so you’ll need to keep those trade-offs in mind. If you’re not a big fan of the keyboard or display, you can always plug into external ones. This laptop has a decent port selection that includes a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port and a combination of Type-A and Type-C ports, so you shouldn’t have a problem hooking up to those peripherals.

Why we like the Acer Aspire Go 15

The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a great laptop for day-to-day tasks like general web browsing, watching a streaming service, Microsoft Office, and so on. The Intel Core i3-N305 CPU won’t be able to handle more demanding applications, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as your use is relatively light. The 53 watt-hour battery, however, lasted 12 hours on a single charge–a respectable result and definitely more than a full school day.

Who should buy the Acer Aspire Go 15

Anyone on a tight budget! It’s just $300 right now on Acer’s online store, a great value for a laptop with a 15.6-inch 1080p display. It isn’t stretched too thin for clarity and it even has decent contrast, which is hard to come by on a laptop priced this low. The port selection is pretty good, too. You’re getting USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, a Kensington lock slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a DC power adapter.

Why we like the Acer Nitro V 16

The Acer Nitro V 16 offers a lot of value for the hardware and performance. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, which is more than enough power to run games on the Medium or High graphics presets. The 1920×1200 IPS display is also big (16 inches!) and fast (165Hz), so it’s the perfect screen for those twitchy games in which every second matters. It’s a good value, but you’ll be tethered to an outlet, as the 56 watt-hour battery lasted about four hours on a single charge. That’s not a surprising result for a gaming laptop, especially one with a 16-inch screen.

Who should buy the Acer Nitro V 16

Anyone who needs a laptop that can handle schoolwork as well as gaming. The RTX 4060 graphics gives it the kick you’ll need for most modern games and the high refresh rate display will ensure that gameplay is nice and smooth. The keyboard isn’t the best and the whole thing is made of plastic, so it doesn’t have the most premium feel to it, but if you can overlook those nitpicks and strictly focus on the hardware inside, then you can’t get a better value than this.

Why we like the Asus Zenbook S 14

The Asus Zenbook S 14 is featherlight at just 2.65 pounds, which is lighter than the comparable 13-inch MacBook Air (2.7 pounds). It’s also structurally sound, which is surprising given how light and thin this laptop is. According to our review, there’s a “minimal of flex when pressing hard upon the center of the keyboard and the display doesn’t demonstrate meaningful wobble.” The featherlight form factor is great, but the battery life is something else entirely. The Zenbook S 14 lasted a spectacular 21 hours on a single charge! Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

Who should buy the Asus Zenbook S 14

Anybody that’s looking for a compact productivity powerhouse. In addition to the lightweight form factor and fantastic battery life, the Zenbook S 14 also has a beautiful OLED touch display. The resolution is a sharp 2880×1800 and the refresh rate is a fast 120Hz. The fast refresh rate is ideal for smoother inking and mousing, and it makes it easier to look at the screen for longer periods of time. Finally, let’s end with the aesthetics. The silvery cracks on the lid resemble the silk of a spiderweb, which is unique and a real standout (in my opinion).

Why we like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED dazzled us with its peppy CPU performance, outstanding battery life, and slick-looking OLED touchscreen display. According to our review, “movies and games look realistic and vibrant” on the 14-inch 1980x1200p OLED touchscreen, although it can be difficult to view content in brighter environments because of the reflective surface. It also died at the 16 hour mark on a single charge, which is absolutely fantastic. That result outclasses comparable machines like the Lenovo Slim 7 14 Gen 9 and the HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14. As for how it performs, you should have zero problems zipping through real-world tasks like web browsing, video conferencing, and so on.

Who should buy the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED

Anyone that’s looking to pick up an affordable laptop with an OLED display. It’s so much more than that, though. The build quality is solid and day-to-day performance is both fast and responsive. Connectivity options are a bit limited, but that’s not unusual for a laptop in this price range. Overall, this is an exceptional budget laptop, as you can’t really beat the price to performance ratio.

Why we like the MSI Titan 18 HX

Sometimes engineering majors need a laptop with extreme computing powers, especially if the focus is on video editing or 3D modeling. If this is the case, the MSI Titan 18 HX is the nuclear option. It boasts a powerful Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 4TB of SSD storage, and 128GB of RAM. It’s an absolute beast of a machine and it will run anything you throw at it. That said, a laptop this powerful will drain the battery at a much faster rate. Also, it’s wildly expensive!

Who should buy the MSI Titan 18 HX

Anyone that needs intense computing power for video editing and 3D modeling. This laptop also has a 1080p webcam, Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, and a massive 99.9 watt-hour battery. That said, it does weigh close to eight pounds and it costs $5,399.99. It’s not the most lightweight or budget-friendly laptop out there, but if it’s raw firepower you’re after, the MSI Titan 18 HX will certainly deliver on that front.