Laptop for engineering

satrapes

Commendable
Apr 26, 2016
3
0
1,510
Hello everyone,

My student laptop is on its last legs after years of hard use and now I am looking to buy my first laptop with my proper engineering salary.

The laptop is going to have a dual role:
a) engineering (developing embedded software, experimenting with Linux OS and running engineering programs mostly MATLAB) and
b) Procrastinating from said engineering (web-surfing, movie watching etc)

The absolute minimum that I want it to have is:
core i7 Skylake
16gb of DDR4 RAM
Dedicated GPU
SSD not necessarily very big (could do with a 128gb)
HDD
15.6 inch screen in a classic laptop form
Budget flexible from 1000-1500 gbp but could go more if need be.

One of the main questions that I have is if it is worth spending something extra to get a 4K screen. I have been reading that there is no significant advantage if you are working very close to the screen which I normally do on my laptop.

I have been searching the web for a while now and the leading candidates are the
Lenovo ideapad Y-700-15ISK Part No.80NVCTO1WW
http://

ASUS Zenbook Pro UX501VW
http://

Lenovo pro's
More customization options in Lenovo website. Can go Full HD to save money.
Cheaper 1310 gbp with 3 years of warranty + accidental damage protection vs 1427gbp for base version with 1 year of warranty.
Ideal SSD size for me (I think 128-256 should be enough) + 500GB HDD
nVIDIA GeForceTM GTX 960M 128bit w/ 4GB GDDR5 vs 2GB for the ASUS.

Asus pro's
Bigger SSD 512GB
USB type-C, Thunderbolt (Even though I don't know if I am going to need those)
Bigger battery
Looks to have better build quality.

Does anyone have experience with either of the two laptops?
Can you shed a light perhaps or propose another laptop from known brands? No Apple's though.
Has anyone had a laptop from both brands? Can you please explain difference in companies?

Cheers and thank you very much for your time.

 

satrapes

Commendable
Apr 26, 2016
3
0
1,510
Thanks Purpletalon55, I just had a look and even though it looks very impressive, it also seems to be much more expensive. For less money Y700 offers 4K screen, better graphics card GTX 960M 4GB vs Quadro 1000M 2GB and an SSD drive. On the other hand P50 has bigger battery, better service packages and 4 RAM slots which could help for the future.
 

Purpletalon55

Respectable
Apr 2, 2016
463
0
2,210


Actually the y700 screen is worse, and gtx graphics wont perform as well. They are made for gaming not rendering or heavier graphics work.

Plus y700 has a almost non replaceable battery and poor cooling. Never get a slim laptop.