Microsoft surface. the high end one. the killer feature you can take notes on it in onenote and use it a regular computer when not in class. all your notes for classes are saved in the class folder and you can post the pdfs from class in the notes. its a game changer for organization and efficiency. its the sh*t.
Recommend laptop computer for mechanical engineering freshman
- Thread starter eljefino
- Start date
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I haven't tested the ability to install updates, 99% sure IT has that all blocked. Besides, I usually like having new and old versions installed now, too often there's a bug in the latest and greatest.From what our CADD manager told me the subscription-service-update-type that Autodesk went to helped a lot; mainly because autodesk used to implement changes ("tests") on the odd-numbered year releases and then fix the issues on the even-year releases. Now they can release hotfixes and major updates at any time and not need an admin needing to login (looking at you Bentley).
We got lucky with the licensing changes because we were allowed a 2-for-1 trade in on concurrent to named licenses. Now it's over $3,300/year to add on one license. That severely cuts down on profits for an SMB engineering firm.
I did see the bill for going to SSO on the ECAD tool I use. It was breath-taking for sure. To be fair, it's a global service, but still.
The AutoDesk updates used to require admin privileges but I think when AutoDesk switched from the AutoDesk Desktop App to the Access App, the online administrator portal lets admins choose to let users update their AutoDesk programs now. We don't use SSO since I prefer to have the least amount of external facing services; but luckily we're small enough that it's not a problem for me to manually setup a user.
BrendanC
$100 site donor 2024
ran on a dell lattitude with an 8th gen i7 all the way through. ran solidworks and matlab just fine. you can get them sub $200 now.
This is part of the puzzle. I found it heavy handed when my dad got stuff that was "good for me" without my having agency in its purchase. Yet wife & I want to surprise him with a graduation gift. The catch-22 is that he won't know what's good until he gets nose deep in his courses and by then we're already invested in something. On the flipside he likes the Camry I let him drive so he does think I'm good at buying stuff, LOL.Let your son choose the computer unless you plan on doing his homework for him.
For the record, the bookstore has the following Dell Inspiron 16 5630:
- Windows 11 Pro 64-bit OS
- 16.0" FHD+ (1920x1080) Touch WVA Display with ComfortView Plus Support
- 13th Generation Core i7-1360p Processor
- 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Drive
- 16GB 4800MHz LPDDR5 Memory Onboard
- Intel Iris Xe Graphics
- Four-year on-site warranty with accidental damage coverage
Catia, Creo and others will work great until you load anything other than a very simple model.
So it depends is very relevant here
If you don’t mind refurbished and not in a hurry, a dell precision 7750 with a 6 core xeon processor and quadro rtx4000 and usually 32 or 64gb of ram for ~$600 after a 50% coupon should be sufficient. They have the 50% coupon alot and supply refreshes quite often so just gotta keep checking and time it right. https://www.dellrefurbished.com/ite...0/1.html?child=dell-precision-7750-000094&p=1
Went to a state school for engineering over a decade ago. A laptop is a must for portability between dorm and library, home, etc. I had a middle of the road HP laptop with an AMD chip, 30gb HD and 15” screen which got me through all 4 years. We did not run any fancy software - they had us use computers in the lab when we had to use fancy software. I did splurge on an extended warranty - which I used for broken screen hinges. Backlit keyboard was nice when I was burning the midnight oil and roommates were sleeping.
I believe our school gave us a license for Microsoft suite (word, excel, etc. but I do not recall). I’d make sure the laptop has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as that will be what your child will likely use most often for coursework. Our school also had a personal network storage drive which automatically appeared whenever you were logged in to the network. This made backup and accessing documents super convenient. You could login remotely on a campus computer to access your saved documents.
A laptop carrying bag is also a must. Nobody had a printer. There were computer labs all throughout campus that had laser printers you could use. Each student was allowed to print a few hundred pages each semester. If you went above that they charged you but I never used it all.
External mouse and keyboard. Locking cable you can wrap around desk when using at library or study hall so nobody walks off with your laptop when you’re in the bathroom.
I believe our school gave us a license for Microsoft suite (word, excel, etc. but I do not recall). I’d make sure the laptop has Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as that will be what your child will likely use most often for coursework. Our school also had a personal network storage drive which automatically appeared whenever you were logged in to the network. This made backup and accessing documents super convenient. You could login remotely on a campus computer to access your saved documents.
A laptop carrying bag is also a must. Nobody had a printer. There were computer labs all throughout campus that had laser printers you could use. Each student was allowed to print a few hundred pages each semester. If you went above that they charged you but I never used it all.
External mouse and keyboard. Locking cable you can wrap around desk when using at library or study hall so nobody walks off with your laptop when you’re in the bathroom.
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Looks like there may be some laptops that could come in stock with 16gb quadro rtx5000 cards, and when there's a 50% off coupon it would be ~$500
https://www.dellrefurbished.com/ite...0/1.html?child=dell-precision-7550-000115&p=1
I have a Dell Precision 3560 workstation class laptop for my work and I don't recommend it. Software is way more buggy than the Latitudes. Only thing that is good is that you can configure them with 64GB RAM, and ours have the 64GB upgrade. That will allow you to run vritualization pretty easily.
I don't have experience with the 7550s but they have the high end stuff so I'm assuming they are better.
I don't have experience with the 7550s but they have the high end stuff so I'm assuming they are better.
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I have the 7560 its no better, had a dell desktop before this that was lightning fast and never had an issue.
how do you get a 50% off coupon?
I would seriously consider replacing my cheap Core i3 Lenovo if I could get this much off a nice laptop.
I see. Well since I stopped using my docking station on my 3560, it has not had a BSOD once. I was getting 2-3 a week when I was using the docking station. I was able to go HDMI only because I acquired a single OLED curved 45" to replace the crappy 22" monitors supplied by work. Seriously, dual 22s in this day and age when I'm looking at logs all freaking day long? The OLED 45" was expensive but worth it, it is wonderful.
I also stopped loading the drivers from Dell's site, only use the Microsoft ones supplied with Windows 10 where I can. Going to Windows 11 soon, we'll see how that goes.
I agree with you, my prior laptop from my old employer was a Latitude and I never had any issues. We have no need for discrete graphics but do need large amounts of RAM for virtualization and the more cores, the better. Which stinks that they bought the 35xx series because they didn't spring for the 6 core or 8 core procs, and I don't even know if you can get them on the 35xx. May as well just get a Latutide next time, but I don't make these decisions. An 8 core CPU with the 75xx would be excellent if it is stable, I would be able to dedicate more cores to my VMs.
I have the usb c docking station with dual 22" monitors. would like to go to triple 24". currently run the laptop as my third with email.
Our new spec is dual 27s which is what I had for the prior 10 years. I might not have got the 45 if I would have known that dual 27s were coming.
But that said I love the 45 and I plug my personal laptop into it when I'm doing personal business like the budget and billing. The Dell dock requires Thunderbolt so it didn't work with my cheap personal. But HDMI does work with the personal.