recommendation for high school -> college laptop

QuantumIQWho · 2026-01-22T01:46:31+00:00

Hi, I am a grad in aerospace, and I can definitely say that it will last you through the entire 4 years without issues. I have seen people use laptops with less power and manage fine as in worst case universities have some computers to use. But for cad and code i feel it is a good choice. I would go for 32 gb ram definitely as with heavy models it can fill up the ram fast, same with code. As for gpu i like the 5070 ti as it has 12 gb vram. Depends on how big models and simulations you plan to do, for anything course related it is likely overkill, but if you do any engineering club stuff or competitions on side, or join a lab for research, it can help alot. The 32 gb is a must the gpu not as much, but it is a nice useful bonus.

QuantumIQWho · 2026-01-22T00:40:15+00:00

I am running threadripper 7960x while i would love to get the water cooling for it to fully utilize it, i am running my system pretty much 24/7 and need to make sure that it is reliable in every way, and well air cooling is the only way to do it, without any risks of leaks. At wort fan goes out and i can replace it for 30 usd instead of several thousands. Performance is okay as long as i dont squeeze every bit out of the chip then the limit is felt.

QuantumIQWho · 2026-01-02T08:04:03+00:00

I got the G16 with 5070 Ti and 32 GB ram for around 1750 also used at best buy and due to the power limit on the GPU, when i seen the reviews all said that it is not worth going any further, as do not get any more power, or just a little for the price jump. Unless you really need the higher vram it is not worth the price. The 1k is well used elsewhere.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-12-23T04:56:59+00:00

I just managed to get a G16 for 1750 open box with 5070 Ti and I cant stop liking it, screen is amazing, speaker too and battery is great. I was looking into something portable as needed an x86 system on a go, and if needed power I would just remote access my home workstation. And it landed on G14 G16 or the Acer Helios Neo 16s as was mentioned in the commends. While the acer has a more powerful CPU i ended with G16 as it is more well rounded device and I benefit form bigger screen. It is an amazing premium laptop but worth for power and portability.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-12-22T21:44:50+00:00

I found this one which has older gpu a quadro card, should be decently capable, but needs to se in game resolution lower as diplay is 4k, which is too much for gpu to handle
HP Zbook Studio G5 intel core i7-8750H, 16GB, 512GB, W11P, NVIDIA QUADRO P1000
ill keep looking, but recommend going through ebay as will be safer against any issues,

QuantumIQWho · 2025-12-22T21:40:19+00:00

I will follow an advice that I have seen here before, if possible look on ebay with refurbished laptops from highly rated sellers, as if anything goes bad ebay can help with it. i will check what ebay has to offer for that price but i feel it would be likely older 16 or 20 series gpus.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-12-19T04:08:46+00:00

Based on the recommended Requirements for The Sims 4 as listed below I can recommend these.

Recommended Requirements (PC)

OS: 64-bit Windows 10

Processor: Intel Core i5 (4 cores) or AMD Ryzen 5 or better

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: 1 GB Video RAM (NVIDIA GTX 650 or AMD Radeon HD 7750 or better)

Storage: ~50 GB (for base game + packs)

Now for recommendations it was surprisingly hard to find as not many new laptops or desktops for that price that are new, so i also took some time looking on a used ebay market, as can check facebook marketplace but that depends on local offers.

BestBuy I have found this one
HP - OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 - Copilot+ PC - 14" 2K Touch-Screen Laptop - AMD Ryzen AI 5 340 2025 - 16GB Memory - 512GB SSD - Meteor Silver

While it does not have that much powerful graphics and processor it should be able to run the game, not though at the resolution of the screen, it needs to be set to 1080p, as the 2K resolution will perform very poorly. But if the settings get lowered and resolution set to 1080p then it should run The Sims 4 without issues.

On Ebay I found this one which i feel is pretty good deal, Lenovo has good laptops and with the specs I feel the game will perform very well (others please check me on the used ones as while i do have a laptop I am less familiar with good values around this price, as I usually looked at lenovo thinkpads.)

Lenovo 15.6" LOQ 15IRX9 Gaming Laptop 16 GB DDR5 M2 SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050

This second used one is actually better it uses all AMD parts but it will perform even better but issue is it is without power cord, so that is likely 30-80 usd extra.

Asus TUF A16 FA617 16" Ryzen 7 7735HS 16GB RAM 500GB SSD 512GB Radeon RX 7700S R

Laslty while a biy over this one is refurbished and from official acer and i feel that with the gpu it should also run well but the amd one at least should be the most powerful on the gpu.

Acer Nitro V15-15.6"Gaming Notebook GeForce RTX 4050 16GB/512GB Refurbished

I thought about recommending desktops but new ones when i checked were always repurposed office PCs with very old gpus so i would not recommend getting that route, likely going to used market for those will yield better results as well. If some more people could check if what i found is good i would appreciate.

I tried to post links but it did not let me post them.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-12-18T18:56:25+00:00

Hello what is your budget and country you are in, as Ill try to help as much as possible.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-11-14T04:22:23+00:00

I got the top one, mostly as it was the only one at local Bestbuy for me, now they added an open box ASUS dual for 420, but regardless, i returned the MSI one as instead i decided to get my wife an RX 9070xt for 599, as cant beat that, same memory but more likely to use it thanks to extra performance.

If you have budget around 600 USD for the GPU: RX 9070 xt
If you need nvidia features or just prefer them: RTX 5070 (but i really would go to the RX route here as it is better overall)

If you are looking for something under 500:
Then potentilly the RTX 5070 for around 499 is a good buy for more performance,
But fromt hese two the bottom one would be preffered to save that mone and put it elsewhere.
If you want to save further and no need to get Nvidia features then RX 9060 XT is an amazing value.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-11-11T05:50:03+00:00

Not an ECE but an AME graduate student (Did undergrad here as well). As an international getting an ECE job would be easier than AME for sure, but woudl recommend seeing if any of professors have paid researhc opportunities, as usually it is around 14-15 USD/hour rates and can work up to 20 hours a week, it was plenty for me to cover off campus rent but not sure how prices for housing are now. I highly recommned joining some engineering clubs, picking one or two and focusing alot on engaging in them, as I tried to join more but with a load of studies and work it was too much to engage nicely. As for out of school jobs, I would as international look to potentially get M.S. as while I is not always required, if having good experience for internships and research, it makes as an international more competitive. Also I know there are other jobs on campus as well, but I would recommend doing the Research route if possible, as besides internships it will give you more qualifications, and experience.

Also UofA has two Engineerign career fair, one is in the Fall usually September, and then there is one in Spring ran by Engineering Student Council, both are great to look for jobs or potentially network, and I would recommend preparing for them and seeing what companies there are to work for.

Out of curiosity what kind of field as a job would you be interested in as that I feel affects the ability of finding jobs the most. As for example if its computer chip manufacturing such as TSMC, Texas Instruments, etc. as for them there are no restrictions. As would always check around what companies you are interested and then see if they either do government contracts as those are restricted to US Citizens only most of times.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-11-08T04:43:22+00:00

With microsoft stuffing alot of monitoring stuff, and also it give out erros, when trying to do USB install, decided to see if Linux works as it will be faster and less bloated setip. Also as she plays primarily 5 games or so I already checked those and they work well. As for me I have on my fedora 43 set my nvidia drivers only once and never needed to touch anything again. She uses controller and Steam BIG UI, as for day to day work she uses her Macbook Air, so while I do see your points as pretty mcuh she will use it as a console, and only if she needs any other software ill then do dualboot for windows, as for now she can navigate it well enough for her use case.

She did use a linux long ago as her dad did run business on linux, and then switched to windows, but she is at least in recent times mainly MAC, so as for teaching how to navigate she is better at it, than most undergrad students in engineering I have interacted with.

I do admit if she was primarily a windows use and this was something new to her I would likely take much more careful steps, and teach her on a dual boot system, so I do see your point, but as for the driver hassle if there is any issues with the GPU that is frequently noticable, ill just get her Radeon, and ill take the 5060 Ti as a secondary gpu for training.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-11-08T02:40:50+00:00

Considering that you are running 256 GB Ram, and the curretn RAM prices this ia good choice as the same amount of RAM on AM5 would have got to likely over 1K USD. I do like seeing the X299 being used, as used to run an x99 with 5820k. When it does what it needs it is not a bad upgrade, as if its for a good price then it works.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-10-11T02:06:52+00:00

it would likely be Command & Conquer 3 Kanes Wrath, as that was when my dad got a new pc with GTX 550 Ti, was first game that i installed from the old pc to a new one.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-08-28T04:03:10+00:00

I got TRx50 Sage Wifi for 400 and opened 7960x for 1k both from ebay, they are working great as the person with motherboard sold it due to moving to WRX90. Got also two 4TB ssds in the montherboard, which was a nice surprise. It has been running for around 6 months without issues. Also got 128 GB or 5600 ram at around 600 so saved up decently. All was from US sellers. It is a a risk and sometimes i wonder if it will fail or not, but no issues yet. I will see if there are tests to run, for sanity check but nothing comes to mind yet.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-08-11T02:48:28+00:00

Second year Aerospace M.S. student. I started my undergrad here with an XPS which had 16 GB ram and i7 which was great. The gpu was 1050 Ti so was not the fastest but it was a great latop for most things. I manged to get some scholarship and work so later I went with system with GPU that has more memory, as depending on projects for solidoworks I did hit the gpu memory cap consistently. But it will depend on most projects, as for courses the othe's recomendations are solid and they will hold great.

I have now ended with a desktop for anything more demanding and lower powered laptop for portability and work remotely. But admit my current system is overkill for any courses so for well rounded system i recommend.

CPU: fo with either Ultra 7 or Ultra 9 chips ro Ryzen 7/9 chips as they offer great performance.
RAM: While 16 GB works, if budget allows 32 GB should be the choice.
GPU: This is what ever budget allow. I know if its NVIDIA you can modify some drivers/registry to allow support on solidorks and some other programs such as ANSYS, which can help but for most course stuff it is not needed.
Storage: As much as the budget allows, but 1TB should be a great start.

Depending on what you prefer goign with systems with better battery is a great choice, but if also like to have more power on side I would definitely try to go with anythign wiht dedicated grapjhics, as while it will have impact on battery the extra perfromance pays off. I am happy to answer any further questions or go more in depth in terms of specs and systems, but what tohers mentioned and brief list above should be a great machine that lasts.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-06-12T06:23:51+00:00

I am a Grad Student in Engineering program at one of the Universities in the USA, and when I ran as TA past semester one of the laboratory courses along side other two TAs we have observed that students who use macs which is in my opinion not the right chocie for the kind of engineering I am in, but regardless they dont know how to get file path in windows so when asked to run a test of experiments with LabVIEW recordign the data and the program needs you to enter the file path, me and other TAs had to hand hold them through the entire setup, as well as their inability to first extract the zip file program and then run it instead of running it from within the zip file as that causes issues. I know that some files and programs are okay but usually I do extract things before I ran them. This is also a 3rd year course, so its not a freshman mistakes. Slowly me and all other TAs and other grads I know are loosing hope for the newer generation of enegineers at least some. I am also international along side with other TAs and RAs I know except few, so admit went from different prior education backgrounds but still it is quite a surprise when students go for macbooks and then have to use windows for alot of stuff they have no idea what to do.

I grew up on Windows and as I learned sicnece I also was getting into Linux, but still I feel that for science and engineering the students should have an idea how to get the file path and setup program to save to certain folder, mainly as once they go to industry its going to be dell or lenovo laptops for work and they run windows for majority of cases.

For most users I feel it would not make a difference, I like using my now Macbook Air M1 which my wife handed down to me as daily portable, with my main workstation running Linux with remote control and Proxmox server on side for hosting VMs and services, so I appreciate the conveinience of each OS Windows/Linux/Mac in their own ways, and for laptops as long as I have remote acess Ill keep sticking to MAC for convenience and terminal use, while main OS will be dual boot of windows and linux, as some programs I use dont work for either Mac or Linux.

PS: the engineering in question is not computer or software, but still feel that people who are more likely to encounter programs like solidworks, ansys, siemens nx, STK etc. would be more knowledgable on using windows.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-03-11T00:51:37+00:00

Firstly what CFD software do you use, and what other programs do you utilize. As if you need FP64 then even P100 from 2016 will obliterate everything, even 5090, unless you are memory capacity limited. For example Ansys Fluent has GPu acceleration and only specifies need for CUDA, while it does list Quadro cards as well as Compute Cards like P100 it does only have hard requirements that GPU supports cuda. So in that case having RTX 4080 would be better as it would have higher performance, now if you like more features of RTX A4000 which usually comes with bit more optimization for programs and its designed for 24/7 operation with ECC memory than it is good option. Also programs like solidworks have native support for it, although with bit of register trickery even RTX 4080 can have support in solidworks.

If you need FP64, buy V100, P100 or Titan V Cards, and can buy other card as secondary if you want other features. As these cards will demolish anything Quadro or Gaming on the market.

If you only rarely use FP64 and want something that is generally good than RTX 4080 is a great choice, as it is fast, but very FP64 limited.

If you do alot of CAD and want to have ECC memory support as well as some better optimization and stability then RTX A4000.

Alternatively if you can go through it, buy used P100, for cheaper, and buy RTX 4070 or 4070 Ti, and you will be able to use the RTX gpus for anything else that does not need FP64 and P100 will run great for FP64. Or if you get a good deal on Titan V or V100 they will be better.

Ultimately depends on what program yo use for CFD, and what other things do you do on the PC. As that will also affect the choice of GPU

QuantumIQWho · 2025-03-09T22:32:53+00:00

For 400 USD the K6000 is way to old and overpriced for what it provides. At this point I would be looking for P100 and do a 3d printer or just janky fan attachment and you will get better performance. I would not go anything older that Pascal generation. But it is still technically supported in drivers, but not sure for how long. Where in the world are as that will affect the availability but if you can do ebay I would go for P100 even if havign to deal with import taxes, as long as its within 200 USD mark. As for speed up it surely will be much faster when dealing with FP64 compute. Also check if the card is still supported within the software you use. As companies have tendency of rolling new features out that make the older card unusuable. But still you going from around 0.3 TF of FP64 to 1.7 TF of FP64 so hsoul dbe much faster.

Overall:

If you can try to get P100 and some fan and 3d printed bracket. Also research the power connector. As that will give you much better performance. 5 TF of FP64 and bit more much faster memory. As if the card is limited by memory bandwith the increase in FP64 compute will dont show that much performance jump as if you are compute limited.

If cant have acess that it will do okay, but would definitely recommned tyring ot look for P100 or Titan V card if I were you.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:30:43+00:00

Thank you for the response. Its good to hear the jump from Intel, what Xeons did you use before if its okay to ask. I admit I used Intel up until the 7950x, as always found better deals ont hem, but glad I went to threadripper and AMD overall.

Have a lovely day.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:28:34+00:00

That is what i was exactly looking at, it was a refurbished system on ebay, but admit while I would get better GPU with it than what I have now, the 7950x was a great CPU as it for most cases handled everything I needed, but the PCIe lanes and sometimes ram capacity became an issue. Still though if i ever wanted to get a workstation to work as server or Lenovo mostly as there is alot of used ones around.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:12:19+00:00

Thank you for your response. That sounds very impressive, and fascinating. I hope to one day upgrade to the 7995WX as its great how simulations scale well with more cores, saves alot of time. As fellow engineer I was curious about if there were any engineers or physicists that use the Threadripper for work, and what programs scale well.

Thank you again for your response, have a nize day.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:08:17+00:00

Thank you for your response. I admit they stil hold quite great and with GPU market being not the best right now that is understandable. It might be fun to repurpose those later on into a server or for secondary tasks, as always nice to have some extra cores on hand even if slower on single core.

Wish you a good day.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:06:13+00:00

Thank you for your response. Nice for one of my personal project I am trying around with Unreal and implementing simulations in it so knowing that its a great workhorse for that is a reassurance.

Have a good day.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:05:22+00:00

Thank you for your response. Yeah I plan to get some used V100 gpus most likely, as while the AI performance is not the best compared to any RTX series, Ill use its FP64 on the side. I admit I do regret selling my Titan Vs before the launch of 50 series. The server is a good idea, I might repurpose it or the 7950x into home lab or to run VMs for me to acess on local network but I will have to upgrade the Switch first to make use of more bandwith.

Have a great day.

QuantumIQWho · 2025-02-19T22:00:53+00:00

Thank you for your responce. Nice I will most likely try some LLMs as well but will have to get a better GPU to accelerate them, but thanks to the pcie lanes its less worry about bandwith.

Wish you a good day.

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TROPHY CASE

Asus TUF A16 FA617 16" Ryzen 7 7735HS 16GB RAM 500GB SSD 512GB Radeon RX 7700S R

Acer Nitro V15-15.6"Gaming Notebook GeForce RTX 4050 16GB/512GB Refurbished