laptop recommendation for physics/engineeering student

[blackdeuce]

My son will be going to college this fall with plans of getting a major in physics and engineering. It appears that he will do three years at a liberal arts college and two more years at an engineering school. It's called a 3-2 program. He may go on to graduate school after that.

Anyway, I've thought about getting him a new laptop for graduation. He presently has a HP with a Duo-Core processor, 3 GB RAM, and a 16.0" screen. It has worked well for high school and is still running well. Plenty of hard disk space. I'm sure it has integrated graphics using shared memory. It's at least 2 years old.

Do any of you guys know what my be needed for college classes, and/or recommend a particular processor, amount of memory, etc.? I'm not sure that his current computer wouldn't work for a while, but I doubt it would do well with CAD programs and structural analysis type programs.

I see that the i7 seems to be one of the better Intel CPU's. I've lost track of AMD's stuff.

Any feedback would be helpful. I could ask one of the professors, but my son hasn't picked a school. I'm hoping that he decides today.

 

[blackdeuce]

B&H Photo has a nice Toshiba for $918 shipped. For $24 you can upgrade the memory to 8GB. It comes with 6GB.

Any comments on this computer? I'd post a link, but I wasn't sure if it was o.k. to do it.


Toshiba Satellite P775-S7160 17.3" Notebook Computer

Product Highlights
2.2GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-Core
6GB of DDR3 RAM
750GB Hard Drive (5400rpm)
nVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 1GB Graphics
17.3" TruBrite LED-Backlit Display
1600 x 900 Native Resolution
SuperMulti DVD Burner
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Integrated Webcam, Microphone & Speakers
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

 

[blackdeuce]

This HP is $899 after rebate and appears to have more features. We've had good luck with several HP/Compaq laptops.

HP / Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv7-6c90us 17.3" Notebook Computer

Product Highlights
2.2GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-Core
8GB of DDR3 RAM
1TB 5400rpm Hard Drive
AMD Radeon HD 7470M Graphics (1GB)
17.3" HD+ BrightView LED-Backlit Display
1600 x 900 Native Resolution
Blu-ray Player/SuperMulti DVD Burner
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WiDi
Beats Audio with Quad Speakers
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

 

[H Richard]

Very timely question. I'm just looking for my granddaughters graduation present and I am planning on a computer for her to take to college. She is going more Sports Medicine, so I don't think the super duper engineering kind is necessary. What I'm looking at is a Toshiba Satellite L750- ST6NX1. Intel I3, 2350M processor, Windows 7, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 640 GB HDD (5400 rpm serial ATA), Intel Integrated graphics. Listed for $579.99 on the Toshiba site as a special.

I think this should take care of her, I have heard so many times the Toshiba unit is very very sturdy and built to last. I've got an extra copy of Microsoft Office I can load on it for her also.

 

[Ltlbear]

My advice would let him keep the one he has while he goes to a Liberal arts college. It will do just fine.
Then when he goes off to Engineering school, get one that will work with the latest stuff and he can use when he graduates.
Buy it now and it will be 3 years old and obsolete when he get to Engineering.
The one he has will work fine for 3 years of liberal arts.

Don't quite understand this program since my Engineering degree was 3 years of engineering stuff and 1 year of the basic stuff.

I wish your son the best of luck with it. I requires a lot of hard work and study.

 

[blackdeuce]

My advice would let him keep the one he has while he goes to a Liberal arts college. It will do just fine.
Then when he goes off to Engineering school, get one that will work with the latest stuff and he can use when he graduates.
Buy it now and it will be 3 years old and obsolete when he get to Engineering.
The one he has will work fine for 3 years of liberal arts.

Don't quite understand this program since my Engineering degree was 3 years of engineering stuff and 1 year of the basic stuff.

I wish your son the best of luck with it. I requires a lot of hard work and study.

Thank you. My son is a very good student and well disciplined. A lot more than I was at his age. I was more like my 16 year old son which has me concerned for him.

I'm kinda thinking the same thing with the computer. If he's mostly writing papers, etc., the laptop that he has would work fine.

The 3-2 program is a coordinated effort between the liberal arts school and a school with an engineering program. The liberal arts school that he will probably attend (Doane College in Crete, NE) has a relation with Washington University, Columbia, Univ. of Nebraska, and Univ. of Minnesota. He would go for three years at the liberal arts school while meeting the early requirements of the engineering school. After 5 years, he would have an undergraduate degree in physics from the liberal arts college and an undergraduate degree in engineering from the engineering school. Physics seems to be good background for a mechanical engineering degree.

I have a couple of friends with engineering degrees. One has a masters degree in engineering. They both like the idea of the 3-2 program. One of them did this type of program back in the 80's, so it's been around for a while. He felt that the liberal arts background did more to shape his learning skills than the engineering school did. I like the idea of my son starting at a smaller school.

 

[Knightrider03m]

I'm using a HP Pavilion G series laptop for my school. I've maxed out at about 6-7 hours battery life with wi-fi on and my screen at a semi low light level. If I had the money, I would bump up to an Apple though.

 

[rasmith3442]

NO TOSHIBA

No disrespect to any of the other posters on the thread, but I will never buy any Toshiba product ever again.

Back in the '80's, Toshiba sold some then state of the art multiple axis milling machines to the Soviets. These machines were used by the Ruskies to make super quiet screws (propellers) for their attack subs. Supposedly, Toshiba had vowed to DOD that they would never sell the milling machines to the USSR. Kinda like a political promise today.

Much as I love bustin' on squids, and I LOVE bustin' on squids (it's a squid - jarhead thing), they are my brothers and sisters, and this was a direct threat to them. I vowed then that I would never, ever buy from Toshiba.

FWIW.

S/F,

RAS, P.E.

 

[mwtdvm]

AMEN!

My advice would let him keep the one he has while he goes to a Liberal arts college. It will do just fine.
Then when he goes off to Engineering school, get one that will work with the latest stuff and he can use when he graduates.
Buy it now and it will be 3 years old and obsolete when he get to Engineering.
The one he has will work fine for 3 years of liberal arts.

Don't quite understand this program since my Engineering degree was 3 years of engineering stuff and 1 year of the basic stuff.

I wish your son the best of luck with it. I requires a lot of hard work and study.

Three years is a long time in the computer world.

I have wanted to use a tablet but they never evolved the way they should have (A tablet is a laptop with a touch sensitive screen.) My first was an Acer, that still works at seven years of age. My latest is an ASUS that is a bit heavy but is a lot closer to a "true" tablet. The OS on the ASUS is win 7 64 bit ver and it is screamin' fast to boot up and run. I hope in three years there will be something like this from HP or Dell. I have been fortunate with mine but ASUS's QA and history of suboptimal customer service make it a pass for now.

I wish your kid the best. But for the liberal arts side of things, a good word processor and the unit he has now should suffice! Revisit his needs in three years.

 

[quneur]

WA state has a similar program. Its a challenging program. I can give you a few software recommendations for courses that I believe he'll have to complete. As for computers, its depends upon what you are willing to spend but the dual core laptop should run all of these (Intel designation i7 processor means seven cores).

Operating System: Linux or Windows. Each have its benefits with Linux being cheaper (or run Cygwin in Windows).

For any physics lab reports: MathCAD. Great program. It is like a text editor/word processor which has math symbols for reports and do calculus numerically and symbolically. Latex for Linux, free but it is more a document editor for math symbols - doesn't actually do math.

alternatives: Mathlab, Octave (free) in Linux. Mathmatica.

Computer programming: Windows .net (free versions). Don't need professional (MFC & optimizing) unless writing professional programs. Linux uses GCC. Most courses are going to be programming console programs (no graphical widgets, ie. pull down menus, icons, mouse pointer, etc).

Mechanical courses: Intellicad. Alternate (clone) of Autocad. Interesting history but Intellicad was developed by Visio and when bought by Microsoft, gave it away for free. Then decided to form a consortium and intellicad went off the market. I have the free version and a paid license when I was doing side work. CMS Intellicad has the best prices.

alternative: CATIA, also a CAD program.

Once he gets accepted to a college, he'll be able to get most of these programs at the student rate.

I would also advise him to think about possibly doing a paid internship in the future. It gets his feet wet in the industry, helps with the direction of his career. The biggest employer here for ME's is Boeing and they use CATIA. So, any vendors will also use CATIA. Smaller outfits will use whatever CAD software.

 

[blackdeuce]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[blackdeuce]

WA state has a similar program. Its a challenging program. I can give you a few software recommendations for courses that I believe he'll have to complete. As for computers, its depends upon what you are willing to spend but the dual core laptop should run all of these (Intel designation i7 processor means seven cores).

Operating System: Linux or Windows. Each have its benefits with Linux being cheaper (or run Cygwin in Windows).

For any physics lab reports: MathCAD. Great program. It is like a text editor/word processor which has math symbols for reports and do calculus numerically and symbolically. Latex for Linux, free but it is more a document editor for math symbols - doesn't actually do math.

alternatives: Mathlab, Octave (free) in Linux. Mathmatica.

Computer programming: Windows .net (free versions). Don't need professional (MFC & optimizing) unless writing professional programs. Linux uses GCC. Most courses are going to be programming console programs (no graphical widgets, ie. pull down menus, icons, mouse pointer, etc).

Mechanical courses: Intellicad. Alternate (clone) of Autocad. Interesting history but Intellicad was developed by Visio and when bought by Microsoft, gave it away for free. Then decided to form a consortium and intellicad went off the market. I have the free version and a paid license when I was doing side work. CMS Intellicad has the best prices.

alternative: CATIA, also a CAD program.

Once he gets accepted to a college, he'll be able to get most of these programs at the student rate.

I would also advise him to think about possibly doing a paid internship in the future. It gets his feet wet in the industry, helps with the direction of his career. The biggest employer here for ME's is Boeing and they use CATIA. So, any vendors will also use CATIA. Smaller outfits will use whatever CAD software.

Great information. Thanks!

A friend of mine is a computer guru and he is advocating for an Ultrabook because of its size and portability. The smaller size would be nice and I have concerns about the battery life of my son's old laptop. I doubt it would go more than a couple of hours, if that.

My son did decide on a college yesterday and I've sent an email to his physics instructor to get his feedback. If my son will be using it in class a lot, I think I'll get him a new one. Otherwise, I'll probably wait.