What laptop to get for mechanical engineering.

Hi I’m starting uni in September going into year 1 for mech eng at uni of Notts, I wanted some advice if I should buy a laptop or if I shouldn’t. I have a gaming pc which I’m going to take with me which has really decent specs and can do CAD very easily, so I was thinking if I should just not buy a laptop and just use my pc at home for cad and the lab computers at uni and for notes get an iPad with an Apple Pencil (and with the new iOS update you can do calculations automatically which would be a nicer addition) or get a laptop for notes and cad work so I’m more mobile I guess as I can then take my laptop to lectures and seminars with me which would be nice as well. And if I do get a laptop what would be recommend. The thing is tho I don’t like typing much so I like writing which is what makes the iPad more appealing to me and it would mean less notebooks reducing the weight in my bag to take to uni and the iPad would be much more organised with note taking etc.

Hi I’m starting uni in September going into year 1 for mech eng at uni of Notts, I wanted some advice if I should buy a laptop or if I shouldn’t. I have a gaming pc which I’m going to take with me which has really decent specs and can do CAD very easily, so I was thinking if I should just not buy a laptop and just use my pc at home for cad and the lab computers at uni and for notes get an iPad with an Apple Pencil (and with the new iOS update you can do calculations automatically which would be a nicer addition) or get a laptop for notes and cad work so I’m more mobile I guess as I can then take my laptop to lectures and seminars with me which would be nice as well. And if I do get a laptop what would be recommend. The thing is tho I don’t like typing much so I like writing which is what makes the iPad more appealing to me and it would mean less notebooks reducing the weight in my bag to take to uni and the iPad would be much more organised with note taking etc.

Hey there ,
I just finished my second year studying Energy engineering which is the same as mechanical engineering but we take a few extra specialty modules. And I managed just fine without a laptop that is suitable for engineering. I use a Macbook and like you , I also have the complete apple ecosystem and I use my ipad for taking notes and calculations and that has served me just fine. I primarily use the computer labs on campus to do all CAE projects and assignments and also we have something called DMUlabs that allows me to access resources remotely including all the software that's on our computer labs without having to download or run it on my macbook.
I think you'll do just fine but if you have the extra financial resources and really want to buy a new laptop then go for it , otherwise it's not a necessity .
I hope this helps a bit ! and if you do decide to buy a laptop please do share which one you went with eventually , I might buy one when I graduate.
Cece✨
De Montfort University

I would say a laptop is better. Cheaper than an iPad more durable and just better all round.
I have a Dell Latitude 5450 Brand i7 processor 32GB RAM 512GB SSD
3 year warranty from Dell
£550

Hi I’m starting uni in September going into year 1 for mech eng at uni of Notts, I wanted some advice if I should buy a laptop or if I shouldn’t. I have a gaming pc which I’m going to take with me which has really decent specs and can do CAD very easily, so I was thinking if I should just not buy a laptop and just use my pc at home for cad and the lab computers at uni and for notes get an iPad with an Apple Pencil (and with the new iOS update you can do calculations automatically which would be a nicer addition) or get a laptop for notes and cad work so I’m more mobile I guess as I can then take my laptop to lectures and seminars with me which would be nice as well. And if I do get a laptop what would be recommend. The thing is tho I don’t like typing much so I like writing which is what makes the iPad more appealing to me and it would mean less notebooks reducing the weight in my bag to take to uni and the iPad would be much more organised with note taking etc.

If you already have a computer that can run CAD I wouldn't splash out on a high spec laptop to also run it. In fact I don't generally advise purchasing an expensive machine to run high end engineering software regardless because 1) the university will have computer labs for that, and 2) using such software only comprises a very small part of the degree anyway.

Hi I’m starting uni in September going into year 1 for mech eng at uni of Notts, I wanted some advice if I should buy a laptop or if I shouldn’t. I have a gaming pc which I’m going to take with me which has really decent specs and can do CAD very easily, so I was thinking if I should just not buy a laptop and just use my pc at home for cad and the lab computers at uni and for notes get an iPad with an Apple Pencil (and with the new iOS update you can do calculations automatically which would be a nicer addition) or get a laptop for notes and cad work so I’m more mobile I guess as I can then take my laptop to lectures and seminars with me which would be nice as well. And if I do get a laptop what would be recommend. The thing is tho I don’t like typing much so I like writing which is what makes the iPad more appealing to me and it would mean less notebooks reducing the weight in my bag to take to uni and the iPad would be much more organised with note taking etc.

Hello @abzzzolute!
I'm an Aerospace Engineering student at University of Nottingham. I would say that the tablet would be a good choice for your lecture notes. However, if you need to work on campus and use a given computer program (like Solidworks, you will use this one 100%), then a laptop gives you more flexibility. I have personally used my laptop over these years for almost everything. With an iPad (or any Android counterpart) you can have the opportunity of having neater lecture notes, but at the same time, you can't obviously run CAD on it, for example.
In terms of the specifications of the laptop, one could argue that you should look into those which have an Intel i7 or equivalent processor, 16GB of RAM, and a good graphics card. A larger screen may also be useful for multitasking and detailed work, but it is not essential. Likewise, I reckon that 500GB of storage should be the minimum you go for.
I hope it helps,
Abián.