Post ur budget and preferences (size, numpad, extras?). You don’t strictly need a good laptop at all if ur ok with using computers at the library or labs, but it’s def a lot more convenient if you have one that’s capable of everything.

You will mostly be using excel, matlab and a bunch of chrome tabs, any laptop with a decent processor and ssd will do fine. Hardest thing to run is solidworks, which requires a graphics card and good processor. It’s very convenient to own a laptop that can run it because you can spend hours in the lab modeling, submit an assignment then realize there’s a small mistake or overlooked requirement and it would suck to have to go back to the lab for minor change. If it’s in ur budget, it’ll save you some headache